NFC denies crisis
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• Notices were put up in the depots of National Freight Corporation Companies last week to reassure staff about their jobs following speculation in some national dailies (notably the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror) about the financial situation of NFC and particularly National Carriers.
The NFC statement advised staff to disregard speculative Press reports. A statement by NFC chairman Mr Dan Pettit included the following:—
"There is no crisis of confidence or cash. The chairman and management of the NFC, in co-operation with their staff and the unions, are quietly confident that NFC companies will increasingly become the pacemakers of the transport industry."
A front-page story on Thursday's Daily Mail had suggested that the NFC had been told by the Treasury to eliminate heavy losses sustained by NCL or close it. The story suggested that NCL would have to stand on its own feet within a matter of months instead of having the benefit of the Transport Act subsidy of £60m spread over the five years to 1973. It was pointed out that £44m of the subsidy had already been absorbed—£17.4m in 1968, £15m in 1969 and £11.6m in 1970.
The Press reports brought a swift denial from the DoE that any immediate closures of NFC companies were under consideration.