CRAWFORD HE’S OLD SCHOOL AND WE’RE PROUD OF IT
Bungling burglars meant that wives got their just rewards
THE fi rst mechanical sweeper I bought was just after starting work in Saltcoats. It was a Johnston Bros unit on a Ford chassis.
We’d examined all the demonstrator trucks and afterwards, our Committee Chairman said she liked the Johnston best ‘as her late husband had always bought Ford cars.’
I was about to say something when the Boss trod on my toes; glaring at me to keep quiet. Back in the offi ce he turned to me and said: “I bet you were going to tell her we could have it on any chassis we wanted weren’t you? But you thought the Johnston was the best of the bunch and now you’ve got it. You’ll soon learn there’s more than one way to skin a cat!” A decade later I’d joined PD Beatwaste Ltd and we’d ordered a new Front End Loader from PD Engineering (our sister Company in the Group). We were a bit miff ed to be told ‘some unexpected holdups mean it will be four to six months overdue’. I did some rooting around and discovered they’d sold ‘our’ truck to a local competitor in the Glasgow area. After kicking up a stink I was told: “Well, one of his two front-line trucks had been burnt out and he was in the market for an early replacement. “He can buy a truck anywhere he likes whereas you have to buy from us, it’s really an extra sale for us and will help the profi tability of the Group.”
JOHN trained at Saltcoats Burgh in the late 60s. After a decade he moved to PD Beatwaste Ltd/ Wimpey Waste Management Ltd. He then joined the Civil Engineering Dept at Strathclyde University before posts at Renfrew, Hamilton,
I then asked them if anybody had considered if this competitor hadn’t been able to buy ‘our’ truck (and there weren’t many manufacturers able to deliver a new one at short notice), then I’d probably have pinched a lot of his business as he’d have been unable to service many of his customers. Surely, that would have contributed to the profi tability of the Group just as much – if not more. On more than one occasion I’ve been unable to convince councillors to approve developing a new landfi ll that met all technical standards. These technical standards are specifi cally demanded by the Planners, River Purifi cation Board etc – simply because of a vociferous Community Opposition Group and it was – interestingly – getting near the time for council elections. I once worked for a council where the workforce collected a weekly pay packet. We’d tried to get them to accept either cheques or bank transfers, but the shop stewards were always hostile – for example, brandishing letters from Tony Benn MP, assuring them that they were ‘entitled to be paid in coin of the realm’.
Inverness and East Ayrshire Councils. A Fellow of CIWM, he served on their Scottish Centre Council from 1988-2009. He is a Fellow of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland and was their President between 1991-92.
I suspected the real reason was some of them didn’t want their spouses/partners to know how much they actually earned. So, every Friday afternoon the foremen at the outlying depots had to take delivery of a bagful of pay packets which were ‘doled out’ individually with the shop steward in attendance. With more than a few spouses/partners waiting at the depot gates to ensure they got their whack before our employees made a bee line for the pub. One Friday shortly after the wages delivery, two masked men ran into one of our Depots armed with sawn- off shotguns. On bursting into the foremens’ port-a-cabin the leader tripped over the threshold and the gun went off; sending a volley of shots that went through the partition of the inner office-narrowly missing the shop steward and the foremen inside. The would-be robbers then fl ed the scene. On the following Monday an impromptu mass meeting was held at which the vote to accept either wages cheques or bank transfer was unanimous! Sometimes the right (or wrong) decision is made for very diverse reasons.
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SHWM October, 2018
www.skiphiremagazine.co.uk
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