The Canadian truckers convoy “just broke the Guinness record [du] longest convoy in history!! “, say several Internet users on social networks since this weekend. Their publications are accompanied by photos of the mobilization that took place last week in the country. Several convoys left British Columbia, on the Pacific coast, a week ago, to reach Ottawa, in the east.
Part of the grumbling of truck drivers against the vaccination obligation imposed to cross the border between Canada and the United States, the movement then extended to broader demands. The deterioration of their working conditions due to health restrictions has also been denounced by professionals.
But is it really a feat that will be registered in the Guinness World Records ? 20 minutes make the point.
FAKE OFF
Determining the precise number of trucks that took part in the convoy is difficult, as some truck drivers took part only temporarily in the movement. Add to that the thousands of people who joined the demonstration. At the height of the mobilization on Saturday, AFP counted “thousands of people and hundreds of trucks” in Ottawa.
Be that as it may, the organizers of the event have not filed a request for approval of a possible record with the Guinness World Records. The British publisher confirms to 20 minutes that the Canadian convoy “is not an official attempt to title Guinness World Records “.
Specific steps
To be able to appear in the records of the Guinness, it is indeed necessary to bring a series of proofs and to file a file deposited upstream of the event. Once the application has been submitted, and if it is accepted, a guide is provided to set the rules for establishing the record. “Each record attempt requires two witness statements […] by independent persons who verify all relevant details of a record attempt”,
indicates the site from Guinness.
The record for the longest parade was recorded in Cairo (Egypt) on November 20, 2020. The convoy was composed 480 trucks over 7.5 kilometers.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance, a major industry association, “strongly disapproved” of the “Freedom Convoy”: “The vast majority of the Canadian trucking industry is vaccinated, the industry’s overall vaccination rate among truckers closely mirroring that of the general public. In a press releasethe alliance believes that “such actions are not the way in which disagreements with government policies should be expressed”.