Complete Disruption Of U.K. Railways Feared

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31544, 5 December 1967, Page 17

Complete Disruption Of U.K. Railways Feared

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter— Copyright) LONDON, December 4. Train drivers today began a go-slow campaign that threatens Britain’s railway network with complete disruption. It could quickly develop into an all-out strike.

The immediate cause is a dispute with the railway authorities over whether train guards should be allowed to sit in the locomotives now that their obsolete vans are being removed from the rear of trains. But behind this dispute lies the fear of the drivers that their 36,000-member union, A.S.L.E.F. (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen), might be outmanoeuvred or swallowed up by the 254,000-strong National Union of Railwaymen (N.U.R.). The N.U.R., which has a few driver-members but mostly represents the guards, has agreed with the British Rail authorities that brakevans, a relic of the steamengine era, be removed today from about 1000 diesel-driven freight trains. This will save the railways £250,000 sterling.

The guards were to sit in a cabin at the back of the locomotive. But at midnight last night A.S.L.E.F. members began a work-to-rules and banned rest day working in protest against the scheme. “The silliest dispute of the decade,” is what the Labour Minister, Mr Ray Gunter, has called it. Last night he went on television to explain the row and appeal for a lastminute change of heart by the drivers. “Unless we as a country can come to terms with the technological changes and escape from past habits and attitudes, there is no hope,” he warned.

Just before midnight, A.S.L.E.F. replied with a statement repeating its call for a suspension of the guards’ switch while negotiations take place. Railways officials —backed by a Government determined not to appear soft under union pressure—have already rejected this. So the scene was set for what looks like a prolonged

battle—for commuters to get to work and back, and to keep the wheels of trade and industry turning. The first serious results of the dispute are expected to hit the 300,000 passengers who daily commute into London from the south. Their trains could be cut by up to a quarter. Many workers will take to their cars, and big traffic jams are expected. Police have relaxed parking restrictions in London, and motorists’ associations are setting up “free lift” centres. The Government will keep a close watch on the situation —the Cabinet’s emergency committee is meeting later today—before deciding whether to declare a state of emergency. It is unlikely to call in troops to drive the trains. But the N.U.R. has said its drivers can take out trains which A.S.L.E.F. drivers have refused to drive —and that sort of situation could provide the spark to blow up the dispute into a full and complete stoppage.