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James Duncan
• The managing director of Transport Development Group is not the kind of man who stands out in a crowd. In fact, J. M. Duncan is one of those quiet, unassuming types to whom success and distinction come naturally.
James Duncan is a Scot who was educated at one of Glasgow's top schools—Whitehill, where his headmaster so impressed him that today he attributes much of his success to his head's influence. And it was while still at school that he decided to enter the accountancy profession. At the same time he took a further decision that after qualifying he would spend two years gaining experience in accountancy and thereafter move into commerce.
There was a time when serving an accountancy apprenticeship meant paying the partners" £200 a year. Things had changed by the time James Duncan started his apprenticeship, although annual salaries of £15, £30 and £60 may have seemed that he was paying rather than being paid for his services!
With the singleness of purpose which characterizes this man he fulfilled his selfimposed condition and following a short spell with a firm of Glasgow accountants he entered commerce, and his entry into road transport occurred when he joined J. Spurling Ltd, a TDG company, in 1953.
James Duncan's thinking is firmly along TOG lines: "We are in business to make a profit—but not at any price." This is the group's philosophy. "If any sector of the group is not profit-making then consideration must be given to its disposal," he says, lie abhors devious methods and rejects any kind of dealing which cannot stand the most detailed scrutiny. He recounts, without any sign of pleasure, instances when TDG discovered that companies they might have been interested in were keeping more than one Set of books.
James Duncan's standard of professional integrity is surely rare in business today. One cannot be in his company for very long before realizing that here is the kind of man you would like to have been if you had not been yourself.
A 42-year-old bachelor, James Duncan now lives in London. He shows some of the traditional Scottish pioneering spirit in that he is one of the early settlers in the City of London Barbican Development. "In another seven years it should be settling down," he quipped. The weekends he spends in his flat at Frinton, Essex. He is a former rugby player who now has no hobbies to which he is dedicated. Five words sum up James Duncan: quiet, unassuming, personable and extremely efficient. IS.