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 
Transport panic?
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Phone Muriel...
IF ANYONE tries to tell you that all road hauliers are hard, unsentimental, individualistic, self-seeking money makers be assured there are some exceptions.
In Mrs Muriel Sellick of Sellick Transport, Torquay, the RHA has a member whose altruism is beyond price.
Dedicated to the interests of the Association and its Devon members — Muriel has served as secretary of the Newton Abbot sub-area for the past 23 years — she finds time to work for local charities, the Soroptimists, and the Chamber of Commerce movement.
When Mrs Sellick's husband died at the age of 45 in 1950 she had to decide whether to carry on the business or to find another way of making a living. There was a staff of ten to consider, as well as customers.
Having decided to carry on there was the hope, natural in the circumstances, that the firm's experienced drivers would rally round the new boss, supplementing her book-keeping experience with the nitty-gritty of transport operation in practice.
Alas, some of the men she had thought would be most likely to stay abandoned ship. Fortunately one man, who became the foreman driver, was a tower of strength and he worked in the firm until a few months ago.
But the business survived, undertaking local work in the main, in a business climate that has not always been favourable: at one time there were 50 vehicles in Torquay as against around 25 today. Local hauliers, says Mrs Sellick, have been "treading water" for the last six years awaiting — with the rest of the country — an upturn in the economy.
The RHA, in common with other trade associations and trade unions, is hugely dependent upon voluntary efforts. Imagine the effort put in by Muriel Sellick in arranging two-monthly meetings, yearin, year-out for 23 years. She has not taken a holiday in that long period. Her life, with its varied interests, is fulfilment in itself. How few people today can say as much!
Mrs Sellick's nine-vehicle fleet — eight vehicles are Tippers — is equipped with mobile radio. The aerial — and this must be pretty unique — is on the roof of her Babbacombe house; a typical example of independence. But having observed her in action in the Torquay traffic office I can vouch for her grasp of the transport business.
I was not at all surprised to learn that she acts as focal point, and honorary secretary, of the 16-member Torbay Haulage Association. The members meet monthly at her garage depot to discuss business affairs.
When there is a crisis call from the local authority advising of a breached sea wall, or whatever, the surveyor's department does not ring round a list of road hauliers. Instead, a single call is made to Muriel Sellick and within half an hour or so the troops have been contacted and told to proceed in all haste to the disaster area. All this is done as a labour of love: Mrs Sellick makes no charge to either party for her valuable emergency duties.
At the beginning this courageous woman had to conquer her natural fears that she would not be accepted in a man's world. "I knew I must attend sub-area meetings to meet the chaps and to learn what I could as quickly as possible," she told me.
In a very few weeks she hat won the hearts of the bluff ant often taciturn Devon hauliers. There were some character from Widecombe-in-the-Moo — successors of Uncle Ton Cobleigh, I dare say — wh were among the first to offe reassurance. Within a fev weeks of her first attendanc at a sub-area meeting a Wide combe haulier phoned, sayin, for starters, "How-be, Muric Maid?" It was the punch-lin that told Muriel Sellick sh was one of the lads in the RI-La She tells the story of he membership of the Moto Agents Association, and c their occasional stag partie: One of the MAA members realising that Mrs Sellic might be embarrassed by som rude stories, said: "Mrs Sellic can always send a represen tative to avoid being embai rassed." She was furious. Sai Muriel, with great feeling, "th RHA men never did that t me."
In her long career as a roa haulier Muriel Sellick has see colleagues "take off" to quickly; one colleague wer from one to five vehicles in hurry and is now down to single vehicle. She complain. as do so many of her fellol officers in the RHA, of ownei drivers and other sma hauliers who are reluctant t charge economic rates.
Muriel Sellick sums up th life of a road haulier: "It stimulating, but it can be terrific mental strain. W strive to get to know th moods of vehicles, drivers, an customers. Recommendatio is the best advertisement."
If the best Public Relatior Officer in the country wei asked to spell out what Too haulage is all about in words he'd have a job to betti that description. Muriel Se lick, who says she has yet to over the Tamar Bridge, serves a world tour when st retires — many years hence, trust. Meanwhile, Devc members of the RHA shou toast this worthy memb■ regularly. 0 John Dario