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pending other mople's money
Page 67
Page 68
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‘NSPORT and General rkers Union regional trade rp secretary Alan Law laid un his policy on tacho3hs to the Institute of fic Administration at the tkend.
Total opposition to the ation of tachographs in country," he said, and he ad, "even if you want Ii — you're not going to them."
peaking at loTA's annual ference in Newcastle, he ised environmentalists of ing to spend -hundreds of ons of pounds of other peo; money, and still we have )le in this land of ours who Id spend that much of aone else's money.
Ir Law told the conference the cost of fitting a tacho now running at £446.58 the cost of charts and ration.
nd he dismissed the EEC it of taking Britain to court the tech() issue: "It isn't a iellous thing that we are g taken to court — it's kidoand he cited other issues -e Britain was due to make a I appearance.
e accused successive rnments of failing to con
sider the drivers in their dealings with tachos. "No one has bothered about us Or our thoughts," he said.
-All well-meaning gentlemen who have occupied the transport minister's chair, with the exception of Mr Rodgers, have protested that we joined the club and we have to abide by the rules — poppycock.
"Who do they think they're kidding — rules are made to suit the people they are made on behalf of, and if the rules are not acceptable in democratic society there are democratic ways of changing them," Mr Law said that ministers had failed to learn how to get their views across to the Europeans, yet the union had met Continentals and had managed to find ways of putting its views across, he said.
"Failing any decisive move which can at least show us where our government stands, no-one must blame us if we decide to show people where we
stand. Fools are governed by rules — wise men are guided by them.
He said that the manufacturers were pressing for the introduction of legislation to make the tacho compulsory purely to ensure that they got an adequate return on their capital invested in making the instrument.
Mr Law said that his union was intent only on finding the benefits for the driver in the introduction of the tachograph.
And he claimed that German unions, which were said to have "clamoured" for the introduction of the instrument, had not in fact wanted it but the then German minister of transport had decided that it would be introduced and it was introduced.
"I have yet to meet a body of workers, let alone the general public, who have claimed to have benefited from their use, "Indeed I encountered almost total indifference to the subject of tachometers — even from the German transport workers with whom I spoke," he said.
Mr Law said that to introduce the tachograph to Britain would mean that the cost of transport "would rise and rise and rise, more and more, if ever such a completely unnecessary item as a tachograph were to become compulsory."
He asked if Sir Dan Pettit would have instructed that all National Freight Corporation vehicles should not have the instrument if it was necessary. This campaign is a popular one with the employers, behind the face which we expect them to put up — the tachometer is quite unnecessary — they know it and we know it," he said.
But he assured delegates that the emotional aspect of the anti-tacho campaign had long since disappeared.
We have had a number of years now to look at the operation of tachometers in other countries.
"We do not believe that they have done anything which could not be done without them in our cabs — indeed our hgv accident record has been reduced without them by 25 per cent.
"Our transport industry is functioning efficiently unions are not complaining about the employers in the industry — industrial relations have never been better.
"The drivers in road transport are recognised as being the best in the Common Market — very professional, thanks in the main to the union.
"There's only one body which is daily becoming more and more anxious to get the Government to pass the necessary legislation — and that is the tachograph manufacturers, and we all know why," said Mr Law.
"And the Government isn't going to pass that legislation in my opinion," he added.
"The truth of this matter is that neither the employers nor the workers in the road transport industry in Great Britain want the tachometer," he concluded.