Ted Smith
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THE new chairman of the RHA's labour relations committee, Edward "Ted" Smith, sees dark days ahead in the haulage industry.
With 50 years haulage experience behind him, Ted Smith's opinion that a severe slump lies ahead should not be taken lightly. "I have seen these signs half a dozen times before," he said. "Over the next 18 months to two years, there is going to be a really bad slump."
And his advice to hauliers, is; "Don't cut your rates, whatever happens. Lay up vehicles instead — hauliers survive only when they run every vehicle full, even with others !eyed up off the road."
Now depot manager at Great Blakenham, Suffolk, for Wincanton Transport, Ted Smith began in the haulage industry with his own company in 1924.
After the war, Ted's career took him to Giles and Bullen at Ipswich, then to BRS, where he stayed until 1954 when he took over a depot managership for Reece Brothers — and stayed with them until they sold to Wincanton this year.
He's impressed with the way the haulage industry is "becoming professional". But thinks there is still a long way to go before it completes the transition from its former image of un-businesslike easy-going drivers. But Ted's opinion of drivers is not so high. "They're not so courteous now; the standard is just not so high. Though that's not to say I think back to • 'the good old days' all the time — they were not so good.
"I'm all for the modern haulier — and only vaguely sympathetic to the old-school types. You have got to move with the times."
In the odd moments he takes off from his work, Ted enjoys a game of golf — handicap 24— and talking and writing about industrial and political problems. He won the RHA essay competition in 1969 with an entry "How to make a better RHA". With his new committee post he's certainly in a position to help to do just that.