LONG-DISTANCE DRIVERS FIGHT MoT PROPOSALS
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HULL'S 1,200 long-distance lorry drivers want no part of Government proposals regarding working hours and conditions in the industry and have declined to drive lorries installed with a recording device which the MoT contemplates bringing in as a statutory requirement.
They confirmed this at a meeting of the Hull road transport commercial branch of the Transport and General Workers Union attended by a national union officer. And their objections will now be taken up by the union's national committee.
Mr. L. Hazel!, a Hull TGWU officer, said: "Under these proposals a driver stands to lose up to £5 a week. Some ofthe Minister's proposals are welcomed but others are not accepted at any price.
"The Hull men are particularly alarmed at the possible introduction of the recording instrument—the tachograph which registers time, speed and mileage of the vehicle and ticks away every second a man is working in his lorry. It would be with a man every minute of the day. This in the opinion of the men, is Big Brother 1984 in operation now, and they are just not going to have it —even if it becomes law."
Mr. Hazel added: "The machine would record the speed of the lorry. If a driver exceeds the limit would he be prosecuted afterwards when the record of the run was inspected? The men also want the rest-day proposal defined more precisely as at present they receive enhanced rates for working Saturdays and Sundays."