Portugal warns Britain: We switched to Berlin Time and it was a catastrophe



Britain has been warned that switching to Berlin Time could have a damaging effect on health, education, energy consumption and commerce.



As MPs prepare to vote on the proposal this week, warning bells were sounded in Portugal, which went through a disastrous four-year experiment with Berlin Time in the Nineties.



The change was foisted upon an unsuspecting public by the Lisbon government. Politicians there deployed identical arguments to those now being fed to Britons by the Bill’s supporters.



Bad memories: When Portugal adopted 'Berlin Time', children struggled at school as they could not get to sleep early due to the lighter nights

The official line in Portugal was that moving the clocks forward by one hour would create jobs, reduce road deaths and encourage participation in sport. But the opposite proved to be the case and the government had to heed public opinion and return to GMT.



The proposal to move Britain on to Berlin Time is contained in a Private Members’ Bill introduced by Conservative MP Rebecca Harris, with the Commons vote taking place on Friday.



If the measure goes through, clocks would be shifted forward by one hour throughout the year. Instead of setting them to GMT in winter and GMT+1 in summer, they would be set to GMT+1 in winter and GMT+2 in summer.



Clocks would still go forward in spring and back in autumn, but the sun would rise and set one hour later throughout the year.



Ms Harris and her supporters say the change would cut the number of children injured on the roads because it would be lighter for longer in the afternoons when they come out of school.







They also claim it would reduce crime, allow people more outdoor leisure time and create jobs by enabling tourist attractions to stay open for longer.



However, opponents point out that millions more people all over Britain would have to go to work and school in the dark.



London would be in semi-darkness at 9am on the shortest day of the year, December 21, and the sun would not appear in Carlisle on that day until 9.34am.



There is also concern that the longer summer evenings could lead to more outdoor drinking and anti-social behaviour. Sunset in Glasgow on the longest day of the year, June 21, would not take place until 11.06pm, while in Nottingham it would be at 10.34pm and in Dover it would be at 10.14pm.



The Lisbon government made the switch in 1992 to bring Portugal into line with many other European countries. But it soon became clear that Portugal’s position on the western edge of Europe meant it had more in common with Britain than with Germany or Poland.



The hugely unpopular and costly experiment was abandoned in 1996 after a government commission condemned it as a spectacular failure.



The Portuguese found that changing to Berlin Time – officially known as Continental Time – led to poorer exam results as children could not get to sleep because of the lighter evenings and were therefore tired at school the following day.



There was also an increase in stress levels, insomnia and consumption of sleeping pills. More road accidents occurred during the darker winter mornings and energy bills rose because households used more electricity.



Bad move: Berlin Time meant that in winter in Portugal, children were starting school when there were still stars in the sky

Rui Agostinho, director of the ¬Lisbon Astronomical Observatory, who sat on the commission, said Britain would face similar problems if it adopted Berlin Time.

Mr Agostinho said: ‘Politicians think they can simply change the local time by law, regardless of what the sun is doing.



‘But the reality is all our lives are ruled by daylight and we strongly depend on the sun.

‘In 1992 the government here decided they wanted to have the same time as Brussels because of the European Union. They claimed business relations with Europe would improve. But the experience was very bad.



‘Our commission sat in 1995 and every government ministry involved was in favour of changing back to British time.



‘The consumption of medication for stress and insomnia increased dramatically. People were not feeling well. Schoolchildren suffered extreme effects – in the winter they were starting school while the stars were still in the sky.



‘They were not sleeping well enough and they were forced out of bed when it was dark.



‘The human body needs sunlight to help it wake up properly. People were driving while sleepy and kids were going to school when they were not ready to start learning.’



Mr Agostinho, who is also professor of physics at the University of Lisbon, added: ‘The number of road accidents increased and retail industry suffered because customers would not shop in the mornings as it was too dark and too cold.



‘The data shows you don’t save money. Electricity consumption increased in the mornings because it was still dark. Similar effects would be felt in Britain.’



Meanwhile, Portugal’s neighbour Spain is considering switching to GMT after 70 years on Berlin Time.



The National Commission for the Rationalisation of Timetables, the official body examining the matter, recommended the switch in a report to the government in January.



Commission chairman Ignacio Buqueras told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Spain would be a much healthier, happier and more competitive

country if we operated on GMT rather than Berlin Time.



‘You only have to look at a map of Europe to see that Britain, Spain and Portugal all fit into the same time zone. It makes no sense to lump us in with Berlin.’

WE HAND YOUR PROTESTS TO NO 10



Mail on Sunday readers have contacted us in their thousands to protest against Berlin Time since columnist Peter Hitchens first highlighted the proposal two weeks ago.



On Friday, reporters Martin Delgado and Stephanie Darrall went to 10 Downing Street to deliver three sackloads of coupons which readers had cut out of the newspaper and sent to us to register their anger at the plan.



First class: Mail on Sunday reporters Stephanie Darrall and Martin Delgado delver the Mail on Sunday's British Time Campaign petition to Downing Street

We wanted the Prime Minister to see the depth of opposition to a switch away from GMT and on to a system originally designed to suit the needs of German industry and soldiers.



Our mailbags contained 7,216 coupons and the campaign has also been boosted by 2,684 emails and 1,046 text messages.



In all, 10,946 Mail on Sunday readers have made their voice heard.



Thank you for your support. Now it is up to MPs to decide when they vote on Friday.

