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22nd January 1971
Page 35
Page 35, 22nd January 1971 — meet
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Sydney White

• Mr Sydney Coe-Gunnell White would be in the top ten in a league of transport personalities. Succeeding Mr Philip Swindells as managing director of BAS Parcels Ltd in 1969, the new broom—tough, dynamic, extrovert—is well qualified to lead the ''Green Van" company in its commercial and political battles. He will fight fiercely to preserve and improve the fine organization he inherited.

His detailed knowledge of operational and functional jobs and the zest with which he meets platform staff and drivers are almost legendary. As a manager he has a shrewd eye for character with ample native wit to cope with the precious jargon of functional specialists. He does not suffer fools or incompetents gladly. Major operational economies have been made and the commercial and PR side has been strengthened.

Sydney White drove a timber lorry for a year before switching to Chaplins Ltd in the Thirties. As a youngster, he learned how to energize a sluggish dray-horse--an unprintable but hilarious story. Cadet training helped him to progress to more senior posts from being assistant bank superintendent at Pickfords Birmingham depot in 1934.

War service with the airborne division of REME—"I was blown up by an anti-tank mine"—was followed by a series of Carter Paterson and Pickfords jobs, mostly in the South. He ran sizable road operations for Southern Railway at Bricklayers' Arms and Nine Elms depots. The appointment as southern area manager of BRS Parcels in 1957, with promotion to the exacting London area post in 1966, led predictably to the md job in 1969. (He valued membership of the working party to the United States led by Sir leginald Wilson.) . With 12 homes in 32 years of marriage, Sydney White praises his wife's unfailing support. Gardening and fishing (Avon and Test) help recharge mental batteries but he says, roguishly. "my hobby's living".

If he applies his strong convictions, all grades of staff will get intensive training regularly—higher management for perhaps a month a year. He regrets he did not become md in his 40s. "A year at London School of Economics 20 years back would have been helpful to me now."

His views on work and leisure have changed greatly since 1950. -I'm happy to contemplate a four-day working week for everyone,"

he says. "'Underline working". J.D. •

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Locations: London

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