At 8.0 am on New Year's Eve, 1973, two ambulance men called Jim Grummett and Colin Birch crossed the picket lines outside Sunderland Ambulance Depot and reported for work. From that day to this - two years, almost, to the day - the two men have been 'sent to Coventry' by their workmates, and union branch chairman Alan Little opposes any reconciliation. Is it simply a case of obstinacy? Or bloody-mindedness?

This Inside Story of a conflict of ideologies analyses the roots of the feud, and it portrays what happens in the hearts of ordinary men, when the unyielding force confronts the immovable spirit.