meet
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Jonathan Lawton
• When the 1968 Transport Act first hit the haulage industry, more than one operator was heard to remark "You'll have to be a Philadelphia lawyer to run a haulage business in future." Jon Lawton is a Lancashire lawyer who is also chairman of the 100-vehicle haulage company, Hipwood & Grundy Ltd, which is based at Farnworth in Lancashire.
The Lawton family has, for many years, been involved in road haulage but they could not have guessed when Jonathan went up to Cambridge to read law that his qualification would prove so useful to the haulage company as it has done. In fact it seems that this energetic lawyer is always up with the game if not one step in front because he also specializes in industrial relations and Continental operation. In both of these fields he is more fortunate than most in that he is able to use his legal training to understand the complexity of legal jargon which is attached to both fields.
Already he has spent some time in Europe familiarizing himself with Continental legislation and no doubt understands better than most operators what the Europeans are demanding of British hauliers when they cross the Channel.
As a partner in a firm of solicitors Jon Lawton is not unknown in traffic courts, where he spent a great deal of time under the old carriers licensing system, but more recently he has been actively involved as couhsel for Heatons in the Manchester container handling dispute.
Jon is a dedicated road transport man and at the RHA Tipping Convention in Blackpool in April he made this abundantly clear when he strongly attacked the transport pressure group Transport 2000 — but at the Same time he was deeply concerned that the industry's trade associations appeared to be doing little to improve the public image. 'There should be a campaign to sell the road haulage image and to make the public aware of the industry's involvement and the effect on their daily lives," he says.
Operators who find themselves before the Licensing Authority as a result of offences related to C & U Regs, drivers' hours and records or mechanical condition of vehicles can look to one of two causes for their predicament, he says. According to Jon Lawton it is either lack of interest or the absence of proper supervision.
What is the nature of this haulier /lawyer? A man can usually be judged by his hobbies. Jon Lawton's include motor racing, shooting, and sailing. I recently heard these described as aggressive sports. If Jon Lawton is aggressive,
it is in the nicest possible way. I.S.