The Dossier of t he Dispossessed
Page 53
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Ashley Taylor, A.M.I.R.T.E., Examines SOME years ago a grocer's driver, who thought he was hardly getting a square deal, decided, after no little searching of heart and mind, to set up his own delivery business. His wife was disturbed by the thought of embarking on such a chancy career and upbraided her husband for his decision to relinquish his job, which, if nothing else, brought in a sure pay packet every Friday.
With hard work and enterprise his delivery round turned into conventional haulage and, mollified by a fur coat, a new house and other amenities, Mrs. J. agreed that, after all, it was a good thing to have achieved this new-found independence. That was in the bad old days. In this year of grace, Mr. and Mrs. J.. and 3. Jnr., are all wondering whether to reach a state of independence was such a meritorious thing after all.
Mr. J. never became a big businessman; he confined his activities to just Iwo or three vehicles. It suited his way of life and, assured of his personal attention, his customers stood by him.
On the Scrap Ileap Now, the little business has been nationalized and there is no niche for a man in the fifties. Neither is there an opening for the son—who, in his twenties, seems too young for anything but a driver's job, which he will probably take because of a shortage • Df money. A niggling payment in cash has been received for the business and later, at some unspecified date, the family should receive an as yet unspecified .amount in British Transport stock.
What does J. do now? He will probably wait with no little anxiety for the final settlement, and hope that the sum will be. sufficient to buy a little business to keep him going during his latter years. A sad ending to a story of enterprise.' This is one
of the effects of the policy known, I believe, as "soaking the rich."
In the dossiers of the dispossessed and the disillusioned there are many similar instances. I have yet to meet the man whose business was compulsorily acquired and who has received full settlement, although some of the acquisition notices were issued 18 months ago.
What are ex-hauliers doing to-day? One operator whom I encountered has purchased a hotel in Eire and has left England with his family, saying that if he could be rustled out of his haulage business this year he could just as well lose any new proposition in a couple of years' time. He, however, must be accounted one of the . more fortunate members of the industry, as he was not short of easily realizable assets, apart from those related to his transport activities.
A much less happy state of affairs surrounds a former operator who confessed to me that he had been persuaded to regard the forebodings of his fellows as so much scaremongering and, on relinquishing his old business, acquired an interest in a different type of enterprise, largely on the strength of his promises to pay his share " as soon as the Government settled" with him. That the present delays are worrying him is an understatement.
Where appointments have been offered to ex-owners, remuneration has often been on a scale that is ludicrous in the light of the man's past 'position and his present mode of living.. That is perhaps why some have taken up occupations which at one time would have been thought rbeneath them
In this connection, it has to be borne in mind that if a man has devoted all his energies to the transport business, he has had little opportunity to equip himself with adequate knowledge to earn a living in any other sphere. He is perhaps best .fitted by his past environment for running a taxi or pr ivate-hire ear service, but such a changeover needs second thoughts.
I have heard of one former haulier who now runs a fish-and-chip saloon which he acquired with a keen Lye on its possibilities as a drivers' halt. Another is now running a seastdc hotel and has established a close liaison with the touring coach proprietors of his old home town.
One man whom I questioned on this topic, said that he was all for going into the hotel business, but with all the out-of-work hauliers, it seemed as if there might not be sufficient pubs to go round! Fun-fairs appear to have attracted one or two of the speculative types, but businessmen of ihe more settled kind told me that they were appalled by tbe prices being asked by vendors of any establishment which would permit them to retain their accustomed status in the community.
Serves Pet Food One burly individual, a veteran of the owner-drivers' free-for-all stakes of 25 years ago, is now presiding over a pet-food shop; another of a similar type looks after the behindthe-scenes activities of a florists which is owned by his wife. A third man of like calibre is playing second fiddle in his spouse's baby-linen establishment.
To many, people outside the industry, nationalization suggests the swapping of one kind of share certificate for another.