I make bold to say that the hours worked to-day are absolutely scandalous. Men are required to go out with a load from one side of England to the other, to discharge the load when they arrive and to pick up another load and return immediately. No time is allowed for sleep at all. Let me quote one case. A lorry was sent from Kent to Birmingham; it arrived at Birmingham, discharged the load and immediately it picked up another and returned. That took the man 43 hours without sleep. The result was that coming through Dartford the man went to sleep at the wheel and there was a slight accident. The magistrate fined the man £ 10 10s. As he left the Court he was asked by an inspector of police if he would give evidence as to the hours of work against his employers. He agreed and was taken back into Court, but was warned by the inspector that if he did give evidence he rendered himself liable to a penalty of £ 25 for aiding and abetting his employers. Naturally the man, having been fined £ 10 10s., was not going to run that risk; and the employers will not pay these fines. The employers state that they are blackmailed by the fear of their employees giving evidence against them, but I think the boot is on the other leg, with this threat of a penalty of £ 25.
§ Your Lordships may ask why the men do it, but there are hundreds and thousands of drivers who are out of work 1182 and if one gets the sack to-night there are twenty-five waiting to jump into his seat to-morrow. As I said on the Second Reading of the Road Traffic (Speedometer) Bill, I visited what is called a “doss-house” near Doncaster, and I was appalled by the statements of these drivers. I was told that few of them ever averaged more than four and a-half hours per week in bed, and that by the time they reached their destination they do not get time even for meals; that on many occasions they have to munch a sandwich or something as they are driving along. Some of your Lordships no doubt know the tremendous strain caused by driving long distances. If the noble Earl, Lord Howe, was here, I am sure he would agree. I have myself done a certain amount of long-distance driving and many times I have had to pinch my ears so as to keep awake till I could find the nearest hotel. How much worse it must be on one of these slow-trundling lorries! Moreover, I had no governor to give me the sack if I did not arrive on time.
§ Apart from the slavery of working the men without sleep, which rather savours of the days when boys had to climb chimneys and work fifteen hours a day, I would like to appeal to the House on the grounds of safety. I know here I shall have the sympathy of large numbers of your Lordships. How can a man who is almost dropping from lack of sleep control a death-dealing machine of far more power than the private car? Think of a big lorry driver falling asleep, perhaps when he is going into London just at a rush hour; he might run into an omnibus and goodness knows how many might be killed or injured. I would like to quote a few cases of what is happening. Here is one. A man had been driving without sleep for forty-three hours and pulled up at the side of a road to have a sleep in his cab. He was found by a policeman and moved on, and the result was that a few miles off he drove into a river from which he had to be rescued by a passing motorist.
