You will have to bare with me as I dig out some old files but here is a start, this is where the 281miles came from.
There are two separate issues. One issue relates to the general obligation that lies upon the United Kingdom to introduce the tachograph. I have explained to the House before all the obstacles that I see in moving in that direction. The second issue concerns a somewhat different provision, namely, the use of the tachograph for articulated vehicles when driven over 450 km. The obligation is not to fit a tachograph but to carry a tachograph or a double crew for journeys of over 450 km. That is not quite as simple and is not in the same category as the earlier matter. That provision will be in force from 1st January 1978.
In 1968 drivers had the same issues as today, but never mind, the unions and trade bodies will have it sorted and drivers will be on par with bank managers and skilled workers by the end of the century. 
Mr. Leslie Huckfield
When drivers are working an average of 58.9 hours a week –while people in most other industries have already achieved a 40-hour week– and when the road haulage industry is obliging 40 per cent. of drivers to work more than 60 hours a week, it is fantastic that hon. Gentlemen opposite should now be claiming a 66-hour week for road haulage. This is absolutely shocking.
At a time when drivers at Banbury, as we saw last week, are able to go on strike for a guaranteed 68-hour week, I am beginning to wonder what type of industry hon. Gentlemen opposite have in mind. The main reason for the pitifully low basic wage in the haulage industry is the very long working week. The sooner that this basic working week is reduced, the better.
Having looked at his spread-over proposals, I find myself more in sympathy with him on this point, because at the moment we have a 14-hour spread-over and under the new proposal of my right hon. Friend we shall in future have a spread-over of 12½ hours. I can appreciate the point which the hon. Gentleman has made, that because of the great amount of time that is spent up and down the country waiting at docks, warehouses, wholesale premises, power stations and elsewhere, there may be some need for a longer spread-over period. But as my right hon. Friend has said, it is in these particular sectors of a driver’s day that we have the greatest scope for productivity increases. This is precisely why he has proposed to slow down the implementation of this reduction in the number of permitted drivers’ hours.
Today we have ministers talking about improving the drivers lot, it was the same discussions in 1968. Marples, Castle, Cathcart,
There is a tendency for some hon. Members to suggest that, provided one fixes the time for which a man may drive or work around his vehicle, it does not matter how long the spreadover is. There is no specific, provable figure of what the length should be, but we start with the assumption that a man should not drive after too long a working day. We are talking about a 12½ hour day. I know that this creates difficulties. I accept that a great deal can be done at both ends of the journey and that, although this is not actually in the Bill, and is not the first thing to be negotiated between unions and employers, it is still a real problem, particularly in relation to ports–but I will not push that subject too far. At any rate, there is a great deal of scope here.
We all start from the assumption that it is wrong, in modern conditions–this would not be disputed–for a driver to be at the wheel too many hours, however many hours that may be. As I said in Committee, when the rules are first introduced, drivers of goods vehicles and passenger vehicles will, subject to their being at least one and a half hours off duty during the day, be able to spread their 11 hours’ work over a period of 12½.
That is not an unreasonable proposition. A 12½ hour working day is pretty long for anyone who is wise enough not to come into Parliament, where it is regarded as the normal practice. But we start from the assumption that it is reasonable to cut down to 12½ hours, and we have said that we will cut down to 11 hours subsequently when we have found out more about the situation.
The hon. Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Edward M. Taylor) mentioned the European Economic Community. The E.E.C. rules are still being discussed, though I understand that the length of the working day proposed is 13 hours. We say 12½. There are also a number of differences about how this is to be introduced–but we seem to be arguing about a fairly narrow point.
As for Amendment No. 332, the working day can, under the 1960 Act, be spread over 14 hours, and the driver must have 10 continuous hours rest in every 24–starting from when he begins work. Therefore, although his number of working hours in connection with a vehicle and its load is limited to 11, there is no further limit on the length of the whole working day. One cannot accept that an extension to that would be desirable.
There are many millions of these interesting snippets in Hansard and they make interesting reading, from 1824 until the present day
or was it nine 
