'Folk could view the juggernaut with a less-jaundiced eye'
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iI consider myself fortunate to live in a lovely Suffolk village and I know
that feeling is shared by my neighbours. Life is not perfect, however. Heavy traffic trundling through is a regrettable fact of our daily lives, Our present dependence on road freight demands a more efficient and environmentally acceptable system.
Latest reports show that the Government is taking this seriously, so perhaps we can look forward to our villages being bypassed. All this, though, is in the future — what about now? We might not persuade folk to love the "juggernaut" but they could begin to view it with a less jaundiced eye.
The dream
The past two weeks have been blissful, it's been so quiet without the lorries. There are still plenty of cars on the road but you don't notice them so much, do you? I don't know why the lorries all disappeared so suddenly overnight, but they've gone and good riddance to them. Our village streets were never meant for lorries — it is a pleasure to drive to the supermarket. But the shelves are almost hare and the manager announces that the store will be closing indefinitely as no further supplies are expected.
cannot believe the length of the queue at the garage. And when I finally get to the pumps they are all empty.
"What on earth is going on?" I ask the proprietor. "You tell me", he replies, "all I know is that there are no lorries bringing fuel to the pumps. It might just as well stay in Saudi Arabia."
"But how will people get to work?"
"Not much point in going, is there?" he says. "Didn't you hear the news? All the factories in the country are grinding to a halt. No raw materials being delivered, you see."
By now I am worried — this is getting serious. What will happen to my "brother's dairy farm? What will about all the crops? How will they get to the miller, the brewer, the factory?
The nightmare
The army is called in, They are doing their best but it's an impossible situation.
Until a few weeks ago there were thousands of lorries carrying 95% of our goods by road. The army is getting basic foodstuffs to the shops but everything is severely rationed. There is no petrol for private cars. No more imports are coming in and much of the food is rotting. And without exports our economy has slid into a terminal .decline...
Thank goodness it was all a ghastly dream.
Now I shall enjoy my trip to the supermarket. It will be a delight to see the shelves crammed with everything we are used to seeing. And what makes it possible? Why those dratted lorries of course. We may not love them, but we can't do without them. / 0 If you want to sound off about a road transport issue write to features editor Patric Cunnane.