Post by smshogun on Jan 1, 2015 22:15:39 GMT -5
This happened while I was a young heading fitter and working shifts; we always worked a four shift pattern which was days, afters, days, nights, so we always had two teams of underground fitters on days to tackle the big jobs as when not working underground we stayed on the surface to fabricate new, or overhaul old equipment for our next faces or developments; it did mean that at Christmas we always ended up on nights which was a bit of a bummer.
Getting to this pit meant driving up the road to the end where the rail crossing was, once on the rail crossing you went right much like a motorway slip road and into the colliery; if you went straight on it took you to the area works, central stores, and training centre, but this section while used as a cut through was actually a private road owned by the NCB; once through the railway barriers you were on NCB land so you could come from the pit and onto the private road without touching public roads.
It was Christmas and our final shift before breaking up for the holidays and as usual it was party time, all the fitters went underground and part way inbye, instead of carrying on inbye by turning right, we turned left and onto the belts and all the way out of the adit and up to our party venue which was the fairly newly constructed East side underground fitters shop as this was the most remote should any management turn up unannounced. The usual protocol was for the senior overmen to set men out underground and head for the party safe in the knowledge considerable quantities of booze had already been smuggled underground for their parties and at around 3am it was home time with all time signed for by the senior overmen.
As our party got into full swing I went down to the control room to take Alf some beer and a selection of food because he couldn't leave and he noticed a local plod car hovering about and he told me it had been hovering about for about half an hour and appeared to be looking for a hiding place. This struck a chord as the local plod had recently acquired a set of Drager breathalysers and were severely working them; it was common knowledge that our last night at work was party night which meant a lot of drunk drivers, or a lot of convictions if they were caught. Alf rang me about an hour later and told me they were hiding and where they were; as there was only one lane to the pit it was easy for them to monitor and to stop vehicles so nobody could escape.
With this set up Alf got onto the underground tannoys and notified all the men of the police trap, meanwhile I hatched a plan with the overmen and the underground fitters, every car was on the smaller two car parks due to theft issues with cars parked on the main car park as these were at the side of our side underground fitting shop and in full view of the surface fitting shop as well.
Men exited the mine via the adit and those in or near the pit bottom rode the shaft at 2.30am and by 2.45 everyone was bathed and had their cars running to clear them as it was frosty, my car was moved near to the stores in full view of the waiting plod as the stores had all round lighting which lit up that part of the pit yard, and we set the trap in motion. I gave an Oscar winning performance of a drunk going to his car and after a few minutes of appearing to struggle to get my key in the lock the door was opened and I got in. I came down the pit road (private) and onto the railroad crossing and turned right onto the private road and drove up it weaving all over the road; I saw the plod mobile emerge with no lights and follow me, past the loading site, under the washery, and it turned on its lights including its blue lights; I continued on and didn't stop until I was on the right spot for the East side fitting shop to see me.
Once stopped the rest of the pit made a mass exodus onto the public road and disappeared as they were out of sight to us.
What happened next was amusing:
Good evening sir do you know why I've stopped you?
No idea thingystable.
You're drinking and driving sir.
Really? am I.
Yes sir its an offence to drink and drive you know.
Really? is that on public or private roads thingystable.
Public roads sir.
Well thingystable this is a private road owned by the NCB and not a public road, so what are you doing on private land stopping vehicles for drink driving.
This stumped them until I mentioned the huge signs at each end of the road clearly stating it is a private road and only authorised persons could travel it; even though local residents used it as a short cut. They decided to let me go and try to play crafty as when I left the private road and got onto a public road they immediately stopped me again for drink-driving. It got better because I believe they suspected they had "been had" and couldn't prove it; but they asked if I had been drinking and I replied "yes" so they claimed this was grounds for a breath test until I told them they hadn't asked what I was drinking; they asked what I had been drinking and were told "coffee" and as they couldn't smell any alcohol they just let me go.