Strike-free Leyland
LEYLAND trucks now appear to have value only as a threat. 'Give us Land Rover', say General Motors, 'or we won t take your truck division.' What a decline from the days when Leyland trucks were run from Leyland in Lancashire by Sir Henry Spurrier, who laid it down that on-costs started south of Manchester. What a warning against the rescuscitated fashion of merging or submerging gn°1 businesses into bad ones. My mention Sir Henry last month has prompted Ins cousin, Patrick Spurrier, to tell me of a day at Leyland in 1960: 'Henry took us on a long, thorough tour of the works. fie seemed to know everybody and everybodY knew him, and there were quite a lot of long conversations. As we were leaving, I said: "You haven't had many strikes, have you?" He answered: "We have never had a strike." ' Patrick Spurrier's memory goes back to Sir Henry's father, 'my uncle HarrY — he was a wonderful character. grandfather bought him a blacksmith,s, shop in Leyland, and that's how it an started.' How wretched to see how it has all finished. We are left to hope that sorne lad of character, with a bit of help from 11.is father, is now starting up on his own Lancashire — and remembering to stay 011` of mergers and north of Manchester.
Previous page
