Minority report
Page 54
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
"SMITHFIELD? It needs blowing up," Yorkshire driver Chris Beal told me when I asked him what he thinks of the market. "Ask Fred over there what he thinks. He's been coming here all his life."
I did just that. Fred — Fred Snook that is, from Somerset — said straightaway: "Blow it up!'
Fred has about 20 years experience of coming to Smithfield Market. He had arrived around 4pm the day before — with photographer Brian Weatherley we were talking at lam — and expected to start unloading in a couple of hours' time.
Luckily for him, he had a sleeper cab. But there's a limit to the time a driver wants to spend in his cab and there's not much to do at that time in the morning except get out and chat to other drivers.
There's no rest room for drivers with a television (what, no programmes then?) Or radio, or anything like that. It's so cold at this time of year that even a. few braziers would come in handy to warm your hands.
Years ago, says a Smithfield booklet issued by the Corporation of London, the Cock Tavern opened at 4am serving market workers "wazzer" (tea and whiskey). Funny how these customs are always those of years ago. I read the other day that our climate is getting colder. We need just as much warming up these days. That's a bit late anyway, although drivers tell me they are frequently kept till past 5am.
Back to Fred: "This market was built for the horse and cart. And remember, we have drivers' hours to abide by. I think it would be better to have a market around Southall, say. I am hanging around here just to make one drop before I make another at Brixton."
Fred, by the way, drives a Leyland. When we first got there I wondered if we were going to see a British tractive unit, I saw first Scania, Scania, Scania, Volvo, MAN, Mercedes, Scania, Volvo, Berliet . .
Chris said a driver could spend several hours at the market just to make one drop. If you arrived at midnight and had to go to four gates you could still be at the market at Gam.
Dave Wilson, an ownerdriver from Lincolnshire, had arrived with a rented refrigerated trailer at 5.30pm in order to get a spot near a gate. He hoped to be away around 2am / 3am. He had been to a hotel nearby and had been coming back every 20 minutes in order to try to make sure no one jumped in ahead.
One of the problems he finds is that cars are parked illegally around Smithfield. In fact, a notice allows car parking up to midnight right by one market building. Surely this regulation needs altering.
Who owns these cars? Print workers, he said. Certainly Smithfield calls for skilled manoeuvring by lorry drivers. I noticed one bollard had been knocked over. I didn't fancy running the risk of my car being tenderised even if most drivers do have CM Lorry Driver of the Year skills and I had no difficulty in finding a side street with unoccupied parking-meter spaces well out of way of commercial vehicles.
I think some motorists drive through Smithfield in order to see a bit of life. One had called out that day: "Bloody lorry drivers."
Dave said he told him to remember when he next ate steak that a lorry brought it. The anti-lorry lobby can be largely blamed for this private motorist's prejudice; that and bad driving by a minority in haulage.
Dave would like to see a new market established, somewhere between the M1 and M4. "There's just not enougti room at Smithfield," he said.
But Malcolm Sanders, a Devon driver, who was unloading, did not fancy the idea of moving the market; neither did his porter, but of course that's to be expected. The drivers are in a minority and have a different point of view because of their jobs.
Ease of parking is only one factor to take into consideration in running a market, but the present system, or lack of one, does involve drivers in a lot of waiting time.
Malcolm said that parking is now easier than it was ten years ago: there are fewer, but bigger, vehicles.
He seemed to enjoy rapport with the market workers and accepted philosophically the fact that he was unlikely to get away before Sam.