DEAR
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SIR
INSULT TO INJURY
I. I was horrified to learn that upon raising the Herald of Free Enterprise, Townsend Thoresen hopes to refloat her and indeed put her back into service. The thought of this happening is, I feel, very offensive. A ship which became a coffin for so many victims should never sail again. It is an insult to the relatives of those who died on the Herald to know that it is cheaper in these circumstances to refloat a dead ship than to commission a new one. Added to this are the appallingly small sums which dependent relatives will receive. It appears that yet again the large companies can ride roughshod over the individual, show very little consideration to the bereaved and get away with it without losing too much in profits.
J. Speller Dublin, Ireland IN At our recent Brewery Transport Advisory Committee Consult 87 seminar held at Coventry, a most surprising and encouraging sign was the reception of a paper on TakeOvers/Management Buy-outs by Dr Mike Wright of the University of Nottingham, a leading specialist in this field. From the analysis of over 100 questionnaires returned to date this paper was deemed the most interesting.
The BTAC committee was a little apprehensive as to how this paper would be received, but as the consult theme was "Changing 'limes" and with vehicle operation/maintenance, distribution and economic factors so closely interwoven it was felt the paper was appropriate.
No public company is immune from take-over or mer
ger. Especially attractive to predators are firms failing to fully exploit their assets or marketing potential. As Mike Wright pointed out, the threat of take-over, irrespective of whether it actually occurs, provides an important discipline on management Possibly the best example of this is Woolworth's which after fighting off Dixons' bid produced profits that well exceeded the City's forecast.
I would like to thank all the delegates and manufacturers who supported our seminar and especially the 94% who stated in their questionnaires that the seminar was of interest to them.
Bill Montague Secretary BTAC TRUE BRIT • I wish to refer to CM March 14 and in particular to John Wood's letter on Leylands. We have one of the old Leylands and that is as good as the day it was bought. We also have an ERF with a Gardner engine and a David Brown gearbox, and we have passed broken down Dafs and other foreign vehicles with stricken turbos. You can go to Spain today in the mountains and see Leylands, 60 years old and still going strong. People in this country have got it wrong, we have the superior technology in the world. Leyland has lost what others, including the USA trucking firms have shown; a backing for their own country's truck manufacturers.
H. Francis Carshalton, Surrey