John CRAWFORD He’s old school and we’re proud of it
Half a century in the business and I still love getting my hands dirty
FIFTY years ago this month I convinced the Burgh Surveyor at Saltcoats in Ayrshire to employ me as a Trainee.
The job description seemed like the work I’d been doing for years, helping my father in his Agricultural Contracting business.
But to be honest – it turned out far better than I’d hoped for. I soon learned that you either take to the waste industry right away, or get out of it.
Several times I’ve interviewed for a Rep and told him/her I didn’t think they’d like the work, as it meant getting their hands/ clothes/footwear dirty.
So within six months of Tony Blackburn launching BBC Radio 1, I had my fi rst job. I’d worked a fortnight, when I was called down by the Wages Clerk in the Town Chamberlain’s Offi ce:
“There’s been a mistake son. We thought you were 19 and put you on a £550 per annum salary, but as you’re only 18 it has to be £498 per annum. But it’s our fault, and we’re not going to make you repay the £2 extra you’ve already had.”
It was a bit of a relief, because a beer was 2/6d (today’s 12p) a pint, and a pound was more than enough to make you ‘feel better’ when out with your mates.
Our Labourers and Street Sweepers were paid £13.16.0d a week, but Refuse Collectors earned an extra penny an hour - taking their (40 hours) weekly wage to £13.19.4d.
Most of our labourers clamoured to get on to refuse collection duties, for the extra money (17p/week today) whenever vacancies arose.
Overtime was shared out on a rota basis, and there was no Health & Safety at Work legislation.
Plus, anybody over 21 with a ‘Full’ Driving Licence could drive the trucks and RCVs. Nor did we have to send any of our trucks for annual MoT testing either.
It had taken until 1960 for Falkirk Burgh’s Moira Hill to become the fi rst woman in the UK to pass the Testamur of the Institute of Public Cleansing; an achievement so spectacular and signifi cant that she was invited to their Annual Conference in Aberdeen to be presented with her award.
Oh for the days when beer was 12p a pint and you could be merry on a pound
After a decade I moved to the private sector at a time when the Purle Brothers had sold out to Redland, Traff ord Boughton was developing his specialist waste transport vehicles, and Richard Biff a was still involved in the family business.
But the industry had changed by then. Barbara Castle’s Transport Act of 1968, followed by CoPA 1974 and the Health & Safety legislation of the same year, meant new approaches and procedures.
We still hadn’t been subjected to the ‘no-win; no-fee’ compensation culture, but Mrs Thatcher’s new Government of 1979 brought in the concept of ‘compulsory competitive tendering’ that was supposed
to get rid of all the (alleged) poor performances in the public sector.
In the private sector Wimpey Waste took the decision (against my advice) that the days of the front end loader were numbered, and we had to replace these with RELs.
So now, decades later, the amount of ‘privatisation’ actually achieved (by CCT or otherwise) is far short of the target the zealots prophesised.
Front end loaders were back working in Glasgow by the end of the 20th century, and the Scottish Centre of CIWM now has their third female Chair since 2004.
Sadly the UK’s litter problem is just as bad today as when I started. For me, the lessons I learned in the Surveyor’s Offi ce still hold true.
These lessons are – never ignore your gut feeling, don’t start a fi ght unless you’re certain of winning it, and the man/ woman who never made a mistake, never made anything!
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, 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.
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SHM March, 2018
www.skiphiremagazine.co.uk
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