Drivers Sleep Three in a Bed !
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Urgent Need for Improvement in the Facilities Provided for Drivers Engaged on Long-distance Work A S a driver employed by a Govern ment Department during the past si years, during which time I have visited all districts in England, Wales, find Scotland, and as a, more or less, newcomer to long-distance road haulage, I have been astonished at the lack of attention paid to the question of accommodation, from the points of view of both driver and vehicle.
In the first place, in no town is there a properly equipped, locked-up com pound wherein a vehicle can be parked in safety. At the present time, odd pieces of waste ground ate used for the purpose, and these are generally a long way from a water supply, which becomes a necessity during the winter months, when radiators often have to be drained.
Such parking areas become congested, particularly on dark nights, as there is no adequate lighting system, and, consequently, there is a difficulty in parking efficiently. This causes a lot of bad feeling amongst the drivers. It is not pleasant to arrive in a town in the dark, chase around to find the socalled parking place, drain the radiator, and then proceed to find accomcriodation for yourself.
Such accommodation, when found, may be some distance from where you have parked the vehicle, and, when you return in the morning, you find you have a further distance to travel to fetch your water.
The M.O.W.T., with its Road Haulage Organization, has, in my view, shown an appalling lack of consideration. Surely, it could have secured the co-operation of local bodies to ensure that each town had, at least, a properly equipped and central—as far as possible—park for all classes of vehicle. Such parks should be under police supervision, or there should be a paid night watchman.
The vital question of suitable accommodation for drivers was also not considered by the Ministry. In numerous instances, transport cafes, studying profits, compel two men to sleep in one bed; I have known of instances where three have had to occupy one bed. If there be a rush, beds are made up on the floor of the dining-room.
It is not always comfortable for even two friends to have to sleep together, but it often happens in these cafes that two strangers have to; accommodation being so scarce, it is a case of take it or sleep in the cab of the lorry. The cafés and houses that cater for drivers are, in the majority of instances, overcrowded. There are too many beds in one room and sanitary arrangements are unsatisfactory.
In several instances the accommoda tion has been verminous, and unfor tunate drivers have no redress, I know of a case where a complaint was made to the medical officer of health. but, apparently, nothing was done, and the cafe still flourishes.
There would appear to be slackness on the part of local sanitary authorities in respect of the control'and inspection of these lodging houses and no supervision by the local officers of the M.O.W.T.
Adequate supplies. of food are allocated to these cafes and boarding' establishments, but, in ma.nrinstances, the food is not supplied to the drivers for whom it is intended, and supervision by the M.O.F. is negligible.
None of these establishments Las facilities for drivers to dry their wet clothes. I have known men to fling their sodden clothes under the bed, turn in to sleep-_--dog-tired—and to put on their wet clothes in the morning to stait another day's driving, It is about time that the whole system of providing• accommodation for drivers and vehicles was overhauled: .