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George Carruthers
George Ca' rruthers, the National Bus Company's new group executive, public relations, began his passenger transport career in 1946 after seven years' army service. He had gone straight to the war after graduating from Oxford but had always been interested in transport and joined Eastern Counties when released from the services as a major.
In 1960 he joined Wilts and Dorset as traffic manager and when the company merged with Hants and Dorset, in 1964, he was appointed assistant general manager of the merged companies. It was in 1967 that Mr Carruthers moved to Wales as director and general manager of United Welsh Services in Swansea.
In 1970 Mr Carruthers became vice-chairman of the NBC's South Wales area serving on the boards of all subsidiaries in the area. Almost a year ago he took over as regional executive for the NBC's western region, a wide-reaching post which gave him control of NBC companies in the north-west and Midlands as well as in Wales. It was during this time that Mr Carruthers was responsible for re-organizing the Welsh companies, particularly those in the south. His work led directly to the grouping of the companies around the major operating concerns: South Wales Transport and Western Welsh/Red and White Services. Of this period Mr Carruthers says that his main difficulties lay in co-ordinating the activities of large areas of operating territory while retaining the goodwill of both managements and staff.
Mr Carruthers' avowed interest in people must obviously have been a major factor in his appointment as executive in charge of public relations. Though he is reluctant to talk of his new post yet = he does not take over for another month or so -I have a feeling that Mr Carruthers view of pr will be unbounded by traditional confines. It is this sort of dynamic approach used to advantage in South Wales — that is vitally needed in an industry where the public image is all important in attracting and retaining passengers.
Reading between the lines, 55-year-old Mr Carruthers' only regret about his new post is that it is in London. One of his main interests is the countryside and he will clearly miss being able to indulge his passion for this when working at New Street Square.
It can safety be assumed that much more will be heard of George Carruthers — whose qualifications include membership of both the Chartered Institute of Transport and the British Institute of Management — when he gets into his stride at NBC hq.