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A. E. 'Geordie' Elvin
• Mr Elvin, who prefers to be known by no other name than Geordie, is a practical man among transport men. He was born and bred in the Durham coalfield where prewar the only vocation for boys was "down the hole" with no opportunity to see what life beyond offered. After Army service he stayed in London where he now feels more at home, particularly in the East End.
Geordie Elvin is the Group Transport Manager for Simons and Co. Ltd, of Smithfield Market, fruit. importer and distributor. He is responsible for more than 100 of the firm's own vehicles and for the hiring of many more. These are spread over 12 depots from Plymouth to Glasgow which he visits regularly to maintain the contact with the depot managers, the drivers and maintenance staff.
Geordie believes in talking to the men on the shop floor, not sitting in an office talking about the men on the shop floor. His condemnation of top management on this point is very strong. Bringing shop floor men into the boss's office is not the same as the boss going down to talk to the men in their own environment, he says.
Having worked his way up through the industry from a "grease monkey" and a lorry driver to his present position, he is well qualified to talk of the importance of the practical aspect of transport, His opinion is that it is all very well for general manager level people to attend courses and chat for hours on a high level using all the latest "in" phrases and expressions; but this does not get the job done any better by the people who are really doing the work. He wants to see far more attention paid to the problems of and the training of the supervisor and the small fleet transport manager.
Mr Elvin's passion for helping the working transport man is now fulfilled by his chairmanship of the National Guild of Transport Managers. He told me he would go anywhere or do anything to help further the interests of men in the industry.
Mr Elvin is very much a family man, he is proud of his three sons and two daughters but it's his two grandchildren who claim his attention now. He likes to relax by having a drink at his local, the best "transport boozer" in the country because the place is full of the paraphernalia of a past era of transport.
D. L.