You’re perfectly correct of course Spardo , the stuffing and stripping debacle did stem from an internal dispute within the T&GWU , a fact which I initially meant to say although I should have taken care to be more specific with the wording of my original post .
As recently as 2011 , just before I decided to kick the job into the long grass , I took a wagon from Wigan to Seaforth …. ( I can’t remember what for , or even if I was empty or loaded ) .
[ This kind of thing appears to be happening to me more and more lately . Only this afternoon I rode down to the bank to obtain a mini statement and on returning home discovered I’d left my card in the bloody atm .]… perhaps you could recommend a good care home in the Wigan area , preferably one that doesn’t stink of pipi .
But getting back to the tale . On my arrival at the gate of the Freeport , I was asked to produce not my union card , but my driving licence … What the Xbox for ?
Despite my protestations however , I found myself obliged to return home for my licence in order to satisfy the requirements of the security guys … 40 odd miles wasted and 5 gallons of diesel burnt , for buggerall as far as I could see . What the zb is happening to this country ?
Very few drivers of my acquaintance have ever had much time for Liverpool docks or any other docks for that matter and the unions didn’t do much to help either .
I was always a union member , in fact , from a political standpoint , I would consider my affinities to be somewhere slightly to the left of Putin’s , but with regards to the T&GWU , I paid my subscriptions for years merely in order to be allowed to work , as I suspect did many other drivers . The union was fine when it came to helping out financially with fines arising from minor misdemeanors , but beyond that , they were largely about as much use as ■■■■ on a bull .
Although the union had the word “ Transport “ in its title , that was just about as close to transport that it ever got it in my particular view .
Then to reinforce my opinion , at some point in the mid 90s ….it may have been the time when they proposed taking HGV entitlement away from monocular drivers , or drivers that were obliged to wear corrective lenses in order to satisfy visual requirements ,…you may remember the occasion . The then general secretary, Bill Morris , made a brief appearance on national television and uttered a few sentences which managed to amply illustrate his total ignorance of the transport industry .
What a gob**ite that bloke was ,… I’m unable to recall his exact words but I wish now that I’d taped the interview , as no one would believe it otherwise ,
So there you have it Spardo , an extremely short extract from one ex-driver’s opinion of the T&GWU . I sincerely hope that I haven’t caused offence … If I have then I apologise but it remains my opinion nonetheless .
Oh! , and if anyone would care to look up Bill Morris on Wikipedia and witness the heights to which he’s subsequently risen , you could be forgiven for thinking he was a clever bloke … a lucky bloke yes .
