BRS to start truck rental
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THE British Road Services group is expected to announce within a few days that it is entering the truck rental market. Speculation on the point follows the announcement last week that Mr Gerald Simmons had been appointed rental manager of Southern BRS Ltd. Mr Simmons is at present the United Kingdom manager for the truck rental division of the Hertz organization, where he has been for 111h years.
BRS officials were this week unable to comment on the speculation, but it seems likely that the division will be headed by Mr Arthur Smith, who was appointed in April this year as head of contracts at BRS. Mr Smith also served with the Hertz organization for 12 years from 1962 in Wales, New Zealand, Eire and Holland.
The BRS truck rental division is likely to have operating companies in each of the group's regional companies and, with the appointment of a manager to the rental company at Southern BRS, it appears that that area will be used for a pilot operation. The remaining companies could be fully operational long before the end of 1975.
The principal national operators in the heavy end of the truck rental market are Avis, Godfrey Davis, Hertz and Ryder. Godfrey Davis claims to be the market leader in this sector with 120 tractive units in the 18-21 ton carrying capacity group in the UK. It is estimated that there are less than 800 vehicles available in this sector of the market at the moment.
The bulk of the BRS group 10,000 vehicle haulage fleet is concentrated in the heavy sector and while a number of these vehicles are committed on contract work, the availability of the remainder could have a shattering impact on the established companies.