BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST

What a difference a few years makes. Back in ’67 when Jim Parkinson first walked into the Kearsley (Manchester) branch of Pickfords Heavy Haulage he had no idea what the heck he was getting into. But three years later – as a certified, fully trained traffic desk operative – our man was fully capable and confident of his chosen role in life. It’s just as well because the rest of the haulage world were ganging up on BRS / Pickfords after the country’s political masters had again turned road transport on its head.

For almost 40 years, the industry had lived with the difficulty of having the issue of Carrier’s Licences for their vehicles being tightly controlled. Selling on a vehicle with an open ‘A’ licence on it had a huge premium as the industry was in essence a closed shop as trying to get a brand new licence – from the relevant authority – was often very difficult.

However, when The Transport Act was introduced, it swept away these constraints when it replaced ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ licensing with ‘O’ Operators licensing. And as anyone could have as many ‘O’ licences as they wanted (at first just by asking for them) the competition against the long established hauliers’ regime just multiplied over night. And what made things worse for Pickfords was how this competition could include ex members of their own specially trained staff.

Tech Rep

When Jim originally left school, he had almost let fate take his hand in picking out a career in the heavy haulage world. And rather fittingly, it was fate which introduced him to his wife Marie. As a way of saving money on his weekly digs, Jim’s mother had suggested getting a weekly return train ticket: “That only cost £2-10s per