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Page 35
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Modern society depends upon the movement of goods and people. People have the right to demand that the products of the world are available at their homes or at their shops and this means delivery by road via lorry and van. This gives freedom of choice — competitive prices and real service to the customer.
The industry that provides this service is vast. It accounts for 13 per cent of the gross national product and one in eight of every person employed. In 1975 a staggering 1.65b tons of freight were moved by surface transport and of this nearly 90 per cent was by road, carried by about 1.7 million goods vehicles.
The enemies of the lorry complain that it is noisy, dirty and surrounded by hidden costs, but it is remarkable that throughout history transport has been the target of the contemporary "Luddites". Of course such people cannot be taken seriously. Their counterparts today, by their protests and disruption, have undoubtedly contributed to the fact that sorely-needed new roads are not being built.
The influential organisation "Transport 2000" — supported as it is by the rail unions — poses a threat not only to the jobs of those in transport, but to the economy of Britain. Their demands for the "transfer of freight from the roads" and the imposition of "very much higher taxes on road freight" can only make our industry less competitive in the world's markets.
And what of the men who drive the lorries? Are they really anti-social enemies of the community or are they men who are tackling a most arduous job, under needlessly difficult conditions, to a very high standard?
Who but a few recall Terence O'Neill, who died last December and was awarded a citation for the "Carnegie Hero Fund Trust?"
Part of the citation read: "Before the vehicle crashed, Mr O'Neill had ample time to save himself, but for almost a mile, through thickening traffic, he stayed at his wheel with the sole aim of saving lives."
Such is the calibre of Britain's lorry drivers.
KEN CURE, Chairman, Campaign for the Defence of the Motor Vehicle, Birmingham.