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At the wheel for 20 hours
Page 91
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I have never been particularly impressed with the arguments of the "anti-light-van lobby", but here is an interesting little story for them. At 11.30 pm there was a knock on my front door. It was a Scotsman with an under 30cwt vehicle, trying to find a local address. A few minutes later he was back, asking if I would take in his parcels, as not surprisingly there was no one at his delivery address.
He informed me that he had been driving from 3.00 am, having had no sleep the previous night. He said that he was going to drive through London (about two hours from here) before he "kipped" for a couple of hours. He was going to return along the Al as in his words, "all the mad lorry drivers made the M1 a death trap". When I reproached him and said that his own condition was highly dangerous, he replied that he always worked long hours like this and had never had an accident.
This lunatic had driven for over 20 hours, had been without sleep for over 40 hours and yet still had managed to avoid any legal penalties. Surely this situation cannot be allowed for very much longer.
Incidentally, I wrote to the RHA some time ago requesting facts and figures about transport, as I wished to put the transport case at a debate on a "Socialist transport policy". They replied, telling me to inquire at Transport House, the headquarters of the Labour Party. No wonder we transport men are losing the argument against the "anti-juggernaut brigade".
BRENT STEPHENSON, Sandhurst, Kent.