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George Minshall
• Meeting George Minshall, deputy chairman of Blue Dart Transport Ltd, for the first time it is hard to credit that he is retiring until one is assured that he is 65. He was a cabin boy at 14 and served six years in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and excluding these shipboard years he has spent 41 years in road haulage.
However, he is staying on with Blue Dart — a 400 vehicle firm — in an advisory capacity; and with full board membership for as long as he wishes.
Mr Minshall started his road transport career in 1930 as a driver with Express Motor Services and after just two weeks he was made traffic manager of the Bury, Lancashire, office — because there was little haulage business about in those days and "I just went out and got something". From there he went to Northem Transport Services as London transport manager until 1939 when he joined the Royal Navy; after serving as a gunner on an armed merchantman he was made chief motor mechanic on motor torpedo boats, and spent 18 months with Packard in America before being appointed in an advisory capacity on MIS engines to the Indian Navy. On demobilization in 1945 he returned to Northern Transport Services. Later, he joined Nobles and from this association grew Blue Dart.
One of his last jobs at Blue Dart was to invent a new holder for number plates for articulated vehicles after realizing that some 90 per cent are literally tied on with string or elastic band. The invention, which is being patented by Blue Dart, is a hinged semi-envelope in metal or plastics in which the number plate is dropped and held in position vertically by an ordinary turn-bolt. Mr Minshall points out that NCL alone has some 20,000 articulated vehicles which could well use this device.
Mr Minshall and his wife are former experts in ten-pin bowling: they achieved international standard and were capped for England on several occasions. As a tranport manager George Minshall's most alarming moment came when he was asked to deliver a locomotive complete with rails by road a distance of some 90 miles. 'What is the total weight?" he inquired and was told 8 tons— the job turned out to be transporting a complete model railway systemfrom Selfridges for the late Sir Malcolm Campbell to an
exhibition! G.C.