‘Crocks’ of gold

THE remarkable story of a car with an imaginary ailment will be told in Monday’s Searchlight.

Many weeks of work have been spent gathering “on-the-spot” material about “The Repairs Muddle,” the title of the second programme in this dramatic fact-finding series.

Investigators have been touring the country to get an overall picture of the kind of thing that goes on, in what, they believe, is one of the biggest money-making businesses there is — the gold-mine of “crocks.”

They have been calling on firms specialising in the servicing of television receivers. They have been quizzing electrical dealers who carry out their own repairs. And they have been visiting garages to find out exactly what goes on behind the scenes

This is where the car came in. There was nothing really wrong with it. Just a rather unpleasant noise which a minor adjustment would quickly put right. It was taken round to a number of car repairers. Each was asked to say how much it would cost to put the trouble right.

The estimates they gave — which will be quoted in Monday’s programme — provide a revealing picture of a problem many motorists are up against when they take their car in for repair. There are no actors in Searchlight. The general public appear in this programme and have genuine complaints about such things as overcharging, bad servicing and wrong diagnosis.

But it won’t be just a catalogue of grouses. The investigators have gone into this subject thoroughly and will put forward suggestions which, with the cooperation of the public, could make the repairs racket a thing of the past.

Searchlight began a fortnight ago with a forthright inquiry called “Gambling with the Law.” Among the people it introduced, were former Home Secretary Chuter Ede, and ex-Scotland Yard chief, Sir Harold Scott.

Tackling difficult subjects requires people who are expert in the art of informing the public. Because of this, the responsibility for the preparation of the fortnightly Searchlight programmes has been given to one of the strongest teams ever assembled in the field of TV journalism.

The head of research is Sydney Elliott, whose long newspaper career has included three editorships. Producer is Tim Hewat, a former deputy editor of a national newspaper. Mike Woolier is programme director.

Writer of the series, and director of the film sequences, is John Haggarty, one of the best-known names in documentary films.

Introducing and narrating the programmes is Kenneth Allsop, journalist and author, who was the first editor of ABC’s The Book Man.

The interviewer is Elaine Grand, whose sympathetic and understanding handling of programmes of this kind, has been seen in earlier ITV inquiries.

In Searchlight, which seeks to throw fresh light on Britain in 1959, they have two main aims. One is to highlight outstanding British achievements. And the other is to expose things about which Britain ought to be ashamed.

This last task is the most difficult — but may well turn out to be the most rewarding. Already they have lined up some sensational and controversial subjects.

Mechanics make minor repairs to a couple of old cars. This is the kind of work Searchlight set out to investigate

“Our purpose,” they say, “is to find out what is wrong with society. We are looking for things that are unfair, unjust, unhealthy. We are out to attack intolerance and narrow-mindedness.

“There are grave social problems that are outside party politics which we think we have a duty to bring before the public. In doing so we shall have some pretty strong things to say.

“We are not out to distress people deliberately, but some of the things we shall be showing will shock them into realising the existence of human problems. which should be troubling the conscience of the nation.

“To get people arguing about these things—to introduce more sense into the running of our affairs — they are the most important things Searchlight hopes to achieve.”