1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146 
meet
Page 44
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Kerril Spencer
• Kerril Spencer will be getting the feel of his new job as Road Haulage Association group co-ordination officer by the time these words are read, confident that he has the backing of his many tipper friends: some of them played an important part in negotiations leading to the creation of the post. When I spoke to him, he told me that he had a completely open mind in his forward thinking about the job, secure in the knowledge that his concern for the future of tipper-operator groups was based on long personal experience of their many and varied problems.
For the three and a half years up to the time he moved to Roadway House this week, he was transport manager of Rhodes Transport Ltd., Chesterfield. He made the grade from driver to transport manager in the nine years he was employed by S. Cooke Ltd.. of Derby. and in this time the fleet grew from 24 vehicles to over 100.
Kerril entered transport in 1956, soon after marrying. He was educated at Derby Grammar School, went farming as a lad of 16 in 1946, did his service stint in the other RHA (Royal Horse Artillery) and went back to agriculture for a time before settling into transport as a career.
Kerril forecasts that the freedom of hauliers to operate vehicles up to 16 tons from March 1 without restriction will enhance the importance of group co-ordination because there will be many more drivers looking for back loads. While the better type of owner-driver should have no difficulty in most areas in making a reasonable profit and the larger company should be able to cope with, or profit by, the regulations by intelligent reorganization, the haulier with a small number of vehicles could well find himself in difficulties, particularly with regard to maintenance and capital resources. Kerril puts management training first on the education priorities list but agrees with the majority that driver training will bring the biggest reward economically in terms of grants from the RTITB.
With a wealth of experience behind him in RHA activities at all levels, including membership of the national education and training committee, Kerril is confident that road transport will acquire a better status in the coming years and improve its image on merit given that it is backed by realistic propaganda. And he believes that promising school leavers could increasingly be attracted into the industry.
Kerril looks like a man whose hobbies are his job. And that's the way of it. P. B.