IN BRITAIN TODAY Now, train-drivers go slow

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32565, 26 March 1971, Page 19

IN BRITAIN TODAY Now, train-drivers go slow

(N.ZPA.-Reuter —Copyright) LONDON. Britain’s troublesome and costly industrial unrest is by no means at an end, in spite of the fact that a large proportion of the nation’s labour force is opposed to militant union action.

Now, the 30,000 tramdrivers employed by British Rail have voted approval of a policy of non co-operation which threatens to disrupt the nation’s vast railway network.

By a one-vote margin, the executive of the Locomotive Drivers’ Union have agreed to impose a work-to-rule and a ban on overtime from Monday week, in an attempt to force the State-owned British Rail to give a satisfactory response to demands for more pay.

The wage negotiations that have been under way for several months are deadlocked. British Rail refuses to budge from its offer of 9 per

cent in reply to the demands] of the three railway workers’ unions, together representing j 216,000 men, for increases: ranging from 13 to 25 per cent. The drivers have decided on militant action because, they say, they have lost patience. The other two unions involved are taking a moderate line, hoping for a better response in continuing talks with British Rail. Driver stole his otvn car The Lord Chief Justice; (Lord Parker) and two other Appeals Court judges have ruled that a man can steal his own car and, properly, can be sent to prison for doing so. The court rejected an application by Frank Turner, aged 45, unemployed, of East Ham. for leave to appeal against conviction, last July, at the North-East London sessions, of stealing his car. He had been fined the equivalent of SNZS3S and ordered to pay SNZ32O in costs. The Appeals Court was told that Turner took the car. a 1963 Humber Sceptre, to a garage for repairs to its engine, which cost SNZI4S. Afterwards, the garage owner put the locked car in the street about 20 yards from

.the garage, because of space i shortage. Turner called and was told that the car had been repaired, but that the engine needed “tuning.” He said he would call next day for it, and settle the account. Soon afterwards the car was stolen.

The garage owner, after a 1 three-day search, found it ] outside Turner’s home, towed it back and removed the 1 i engine. i Giving judgment, Lordli Parker said that the only i legal issue was whether the , garage owner had control , and possession of the car at i the time, and whether Turner had acted dishonestly. | “The garage owner clearly l ;did have possession and con- < trol,” the Lord Chief Justice j said. “The trial jury found dis- | honesty against Turner, and , this the Appeals Court up- ; holds. No fault can be found 1 with the judge’s summing- , ' up.” Lord Widgery and Mr Justice Bridge agreed. After the hearing, Turner said that he was “be- ( wildered.” “The decision means that 11 shall have to go to prison. ; 1 1 cannot pay the fine or the i costs.” I He added that he now had ■the car, minus the original 1 • engine, but he had fitted an- ; other and was using the (vehicle. i Holding back the Thames Plans for the erection of a (barrier to protect Londonj (from the danger of an over-| i flowing River Thames have been given approval and a 65 (per cent grant from the (Government. i The project, estimated to 'cost £7om will involve ex- : tensive bank-raising work ( on downstream Thames stretches and the erection of (the barrier itself. Work on the bank-raising (is expected to begin next month, and on the barrier by 1972; The Chairman of the Greater London Council (Mr Desmond Plummer) hopes that the work will be completed by 1977. The council’s contribution i is expected to be about £24m. Change of role The British Army has confirmed that men from its nuclear strike regiments in ; Germany are being retrained (to fight with wooden clubs | in Belfast. The Army has already had to draw on artillery and armoured units for readymade infantry to mount guard in Northern Ireland. Under strength the British Army numbers in all about 190,000, of whom about 53,000 are in the N.A.T.0.committed Army of the Rhine, and 9600 in Northern Ireland. The Irish garrison is in process of being built up to 11,000, and the 24th and 39th Missile Regiments of the Royal Artillery have been placed on alert for secondHment of men to Ulster. ■! Equipped with Honest John : I rockets and nuclear howitzers, they guard the Ruhr in- . dustriai heartland of West • Germany. It is understood that each regiment has been ■ told to be ready to send 200 , men to Belfast, the equivaf lent of two batteries. I l \Diplomatic j exchange The Government has given s no official approval in prin- ! ciple, either explicit or im- , plicit, to the sale of a ; ground-to-air missile defence . system to South Africa. •I The Government’s position •i has been given by the i(foreign secretary (Sir Alec

Douglas-Home) in a letter to the Labour Party’s spokesman on defence matters, Mr George Thomson. Mr Thomson had written to the Secretary of State for Defence (Lord Carrington) about reports of a possible sale of a missile defence system by a consortium led by the British Aircraft Corporation. Earlier this month, B.A.C. had said there had been talks with South Africa, and that the multi-million pound weapons system proposed was strictly for South Africa’s defence against external enemies.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home replied to Mr Thomson’s letter because, he said, the matter was more one for him than for Lord Carrington. He told Mr Thomson that the Government had received no indication from the South African Government that it wanted such an air defence system. Plea made for Asians Asian holders of British passports in East Africa should have the right to enter Britain without control, according to a liberal member of parliament, Mr David Steel. During a Parliamentary discussion on the Tory Government’s proposed Immigration Bill, Mr Steel said

that there were still 150,000 British citizens in Kenya and Uganda, 9000 of whom were already in the queue waiting to emigrate to Britain. But only 1500 entryvouchers for heads of families were allocated to them, and real hardship existed. Mr Steel estimated that about 30,000 of these British Asians would want to exercise their option to come to Britain in the coming months. “We should accord priority right-of-entry to this group of people above all others, because they have no other citizenship and many are destitute or wholly dependent on what action we might take,” he said. Profitable postponement An experiment in Sunday Rugby has paid a handsome dividend for the Coventry Club.

To combat the “live” televising of the England-Scot-land game at Twickenham last Saturday, Coventry put off their match with London Irish until Sunday afternoon. The result was a crowd of 5000 people, the club’s second highest gate of the season. By comparison, Coventry’s nearby rival, Moseley, played its fixture on Saturday, before 200 spectators.