Grapes of Wrath
Page 66
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Janus comments
Television reporter: The recording equipment which I take about with me is an essential tool of my trade. It has never occurred to me to resent its presence. There are several hundred thousand lorry drivers, however, who think differently.
The new Transport Act will make it compulsory at some time in the future for their vehicles to be fitted with tachographs. These instruments will distinguish the periods when the lorry is moving or stationary and will show the speeds and the distances covered.
Several advantages are claimed for the tachographs. It is expected to improve road safety by discouraging drivers from exceeding speed limits or working longer than the permitted number of hours. It will increase productivity by enabling the owner of the vehicle to check that his driver is doing as much work as possible.
I obtained this information from official sources. It seemed to me a marvellous invention which could simultaneously cut down the use of vehicles and increase the amount of work done by the drivers. It would be an accessory I should value for my own car in spite of the price—about LSO—plus whatever it may cost to fit.
My opinion is not universally shared. The clause introducing the tachograph seems to have caused more controversy lately than all the other 165 clauses in the Act.
Most of the opposition has come from the drivers. To find out what was worrying them I visited the Kosy Korner Kafe on the Great White Way.
I understand that most of you here are long-distance drivers and that all of you object to the tachograph. Can you tell me why?
First driver: Why should the gaffer want all this information? I don't expect him to give me a detailed account of his working day when I get back to the yard. Let him stick to his part of the job and I'll stick to mine.
Second driver: If he really wants to know he can always check our log sheets. We already have to fill these in by law and we are in a better position to say what we have been doing than a piece of dumb machinery.
Reporter: If I can put the point without offence, they do say that the tachograph cannot lie.
Third driver: But it can give wrong information mate. Look at these computers—always making mistakes in spite of the personal recommendation of the Prime Minister and Mr. Wedgwood Benn.
Reporter: Does this mean that you think the Government responsible?
Second driver: Barbara must take the can for this. The trouble started when she went to Germany and came back with her little black box. Our politicians shouldn't be allowed to bring anything out of Germany. Look what happened at Munich.
Reporter: It is not only in Germany where the little black box is used. It has been compulsory for a long time in Switzerland and Sweden and is now being introduced in France, Holland and Italy.
Second driver: Just what I am complaining about mate. Why should we let these
foreigners run our country? They are clever enough to keep us out of the Common Market when it suits their book. I'm all for the British way of life and that doesn't go well with the spy-in-the-cab.
Fourth driver: Another thing. We don't make these grapes-of-wrath things in this country. Workers in British factories wouldn't stand for it. The whole lot will have to be imported and a lot of good that will do to our balance of trade. Herr Leber certainly knew what he was about when he chatted up Barbara.
Reporter: There might be occasions when the tachograph would work to your advantage. If the boss thought you were deliberately holding things up it would show exactly where you ran into difficulties and it could be a witness on your side if you were accused of breaking the law.
Third driver: And it could work the other way as well.
Reporter: But as long as you keep within the law you have nothing to fear.
Third driver: If we keep within the law what is the point of the tachograph? Just a waste of time and money.
Reporter: Are you suggesting that every driver is a perfect model citizen?
First driver: There are a few bad ones as you might expect in any business. The Ministry knows who they are. They should be banned from the roads and then the rest of us can be left in peace.
Second driver: He's right mate. It's the cowboys that the police ought to be trying to catch instead of trapping honest citizens.
Reporter: Do you think there are many of these cowboys?
Second driver: Hundreds of them. You meet them all the time coming towards you along the road half asleep after God knows how many hours at the wheel. It scares you stiff at times. The tachograph kids ought to get busy on these drivers and on their employers.
Reporter: There seem to be no cowboys in here.
First driver: Not tonight mate. We are all law-abiding members of the community,
knights of the road. You should have been in here yesterday. There was one chap had driven 10 hours without a break and he still had over 100 miles to go.
Reporter: This would be an exceptional case I suppose.
Second driver: Not in the least exceptional. I know plenty of drivers who can beat that record.
Third driver: There's Charlie of course. Several voices: We all know good old Charlie.
Third driver: I reckon Charlie was born with a steering wheel in his hand. He drives right round the clock if necessary. He has been on the road for 30 years to my knowledge and has never had an accident —not so much as a scratch on the paintwork.
Second driver: He has even been given medals for it.
Reporter: Is there any chance of meeting him?
Third driver: I haven't seen him recently but if you stay around you'll run into him soon enough. Drives a big artic and answers to the name of Charlie. He's not unique though. There are a good many others like him. Individualists. It will break their hearts if they have to fit the spy-in-the-cab.
Fourth driver: There is another chap you would like to meet. He was on a regular run-18 hours a day seven days a week. He had one wife in London and another in Glasgow. Don't ask me how he managed to get any sleep.
Reporter: What happened to him?
Fourth driver: You won't see him for a while I'm afraid. They had a kind of silent check and caught up with him at last.
Reporter: So the obligation to keep records at least helped the police here?
Fourth driver: Certainly they did—especially the records at Somerset House. He got sent down for bigamy.
Reporter: I am sure none of you is following his example.
First driver: Nobody here mate. We are keeping strictly within the law. It says we must have a break of at least half an hour after we have been driving for up to 5+ hours and this is our break. We know our rights, Reporter: I can see the importance of a minimum for the break time. It explains something that had begun to puzzle me. We started to set up our equipment in this cafe just over two hours ago. You were all in here then and as far as I can see you still seem in no hurry to go. I understand now that you want to make absolutely sure that you have taken the full rest period to which you are entitled and which you are in fact obliged to take by law.
Several voices: What's he on about? I was suspicious about that long hair from the start—must be Barbara dressed up as a man. He's the bloody spy-in-the-cafe. Heil Hitler. Chuck him in the river. Smash his gear. Be careful what you're doing with that camera. Mind those lights. Enoch Enoch Powell. Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh. One out, all out, etc.
Announcer: For our next item we turn to a much less troubled area—the Middle East.