Out thritaa at la time
Page 30
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
I write as the wife of a Continental driver to say that I feel it is time something should be done in defence of lorry drivers. By this I mean that very few people in the mass of the general public in this country realise that driving a unit and trailer is a skilled occupation and that lorry drivers are not the lowest of the low or the scruffy, ill-educated people they imagine them to be.
With regard to accidents, whenever a lorry is involved, it is automatically assumed by press, media and public that the lorry driver is at fault. I had a prime instance of this today. I manage a garden centre on the A20 at Sellidge, Kent, and there was an accident involving a lorry, driven by a Turkish fellow and a brand new car driven by an English gentleman of 65.
Several customers came into the Centre and their immediate reaction was "mad lorry driver and foreign", without having any facts or even witnessing the accident. Whilst the passenger in the car was quite badly injured, and one of our staff who has nursing experience was on hand until the ambulance arrived, no-one except me seemed concerned with the lorry driver — who was obviously in a state of shock and very distressed.
As previously mentioned, I feel that it is time your magazine launched a campaign, with facts and figures, to clear the lorry drivers of some of the blame which always seems to fall at their feet. I do appreciate that there are good and bad drivers in all sections of transport, but I do feel that it is time someone stood up and defended these drivers who help operate one of the most efficient means of transport in the country.
JANET E. BUCKLE, Folkestone, Kent.