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LESS OF A KNIGHT ERRANT
Page 145
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SITTING by the fireside on a winter's night and watching pictures transmitted from a television camera which seems to be permanently installed on Shap Fell, we are bound to feel sorry for the lorry driver and to wonder why he does not choose a less arduous job. Over the years he has been able to appreciate the benefit of improved roads, better vehicles, more comfortable cabs, power-assisted controls and other refinements. But similar advances have been made in other industries without the risk of being isolated far from hope of assistance on a bitterly cold night.
Although according to reports firstclass drivers are scarcer than they used to be, the recruitment problem is no worse in road transport than elsewhere. It provides one of the• few remaining openings for the person who appreciates a certain amount of freedom and the opportunity to use his initiative. Once the driver has started on his journey he is in charge of a valuable vehicle and possibly an even more valuable load. Their safe delivery depends mainly on him. However precise his instructions there are many decisions which he must make for himself. It is a lonely life but a responsible one.
RADIO COMMUNICATION In the same way as conditions are improving, so is there bound to come about some mitigation in the loneliness of the longdistance driver. At a cost of about £2 per week per vehicle an operator and his driver can now keep in touch with each other by radio for the entire journey along certain important trunk roads. Among other things the driver can be warned of difficulties which lie ahead and given instructions on return loads and other matters. He can at once ask for assistance if his vehicle breaks down or is involved in an accident.
Chosen for its collocation of initials rather than for its euphony, the title of Haulage Emergency Link Protection is also a reminder that Securicor is the organizer of the service and that it provides a valuable extra protection to the driver against lorry thieves and particularly against hi-jacking. Where the load presents any temptation— and apparently there are few that do not —the driver can be called at regular intervals and he can himself give immediate notice if he is stopped on the road for whatever reason. The close liaison announced this week between Securicor and the vehicle observer corps should make the hi-jacking specialist even more despondent. If he is unlucky enough to pick on a vehicle with two-way radio contact. he will soon find himself being hunted, not only by Securicor patrols and the police but also by the enthusiastic members of any observer corps that happen to be in the locality. The additional rewards also announced this week mean that there will be a price on his head.
This is good news for everybody except the thief. Hi-jacking is a despicable type of crime. It depends for its success upon either corrupting the driver or incapacitating him until the stolen goods are disposed of. Hi-jacking can also develop into a highly profitable business. Loads are selected for their value, a suitable time and place can usually be arranged and the period between stopping the driver and releasing him is easily prolonged until all traces have been removed.
PRECAUTIONS HAVE HELPED Lorry dragging in towns has been made increasingly hazardous by the operations of the observer corps. They are virtually useless against the hijacker because of the length of time between when the theft takes place and when it is reported. Precautions recommended by the vehicles security committee have helped to some extent. Drivers have been warned not to stop without good reason, not to give lifts, to keep their cab doors bolted and so on. Security devices and locks have been fitted to vehicles. Operators have taken care in the choice of their staff and have done their best to see that information is not made generally available about the movement of valuable loads.
In spite of all these things hi-jacking is on the increase. It is good news, however, that the committee is not completely discouraged to find that as soon as it begins to make an impression on the incidence of lorry stealing in one sector it breaks out in another. Operators will be anxious to know whether the attack on hi-jacking promised for 1966 will achieve similar results to the attack on lorry dragging in previous years. The completely cynical will ask themselves whether the criminals will devise a new variety of lorry theft with which to baffle the committee and the authorities.
Better protection for the vehicle means better protection for the driver. He must welcome and appreciate the latest steps which have been taken even when they encroach a little more on the freedom of action which he counts as one of the attractions of his job. The process is inevitable. If it is still his boast that he is the knight of the road, he must reconcile himself to becoming less and less of a knight errant.
PRODUCTIVITY AND ROAD TRANSPORT Joint efforts of the Road Haulage Association and British Road Services a couple of years ago made it certain that productivity would catch up with the road transport industry. It is significant that the Prices and Incomes Board should have taken the connection for granted. At one time there was a widespread opinion that productivity was strictly for the manufacturers, and that it ought to be enough for road operators to know that they also serve who only stand and wait.
Operators are no longer satisfied with this dichotomy. They are more and more conscious that time is money. The new HELP service will enable them if they so wish to keep track on a driver's movement to ensure that he is keeping to the routes and schedules laid down. It has always been possible to check his progress at the end of a journey by means of a recorder. The new development will provide additional information received during the course of the journey.
A rearguard action against the collection of such information continues in spite of the new wages agreement and in spite of the preliminary discussions in which the trade unions indicated their willingness to discuss productivity. Sooner or later the opposition will have to be withdrawn.
Janus