Gheorghe Chilian, Ionut Crecea and Ion Ruset admitted a charge of attempted theft from the Motorail Logistics Park at Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon.
These workers suffered appalling conditions without taking direct action until 9 June 1980 when those on day shift imposed bans on the lifting of and cleaning under the carriage seats of the Brisbane and Motorail Express Trains.
Which is how my wife and I found ourselves one Friday evening in a well-crammed estate car at the Motorail terminal in Calais awaiting the Avignon-bound overnight sleeper train.
Although the Motorail concept is basically the same today as the day it was introduced, standards of comfort on board have greatly improved over the years.
But as we are a party of six with four youngsters, would it be cheaper to go by rail then hire a car locally or even to take our own people carrier on the Motorail to Brive?
UNDER heavy attack from the low cost airlines, French Rail's Motorail service- which carries both cars and their passengers all the way to the Med - is slashing prices this summer by around 20% for the next few weeks.