BRS film from the 50s/60s.
Plenty of lorries queued up on the Docks waiting to tip.
Enjoy.
spooky, i watched that yesterday on u tube and meant to post it… good film of days gone by. except the dock quees 
The film showed the BRS operation in a very flattering light. Which makes me wonder, what does the forum think would have happened if the de-nationalisation of road haulage in the early 50’s had not happened.
Any thoughts, especially from those who lived through the changes?
It won’t let me watch it on youtube , it says it’s private is there any where else I can see it ?
I am also having the same problem. 
Dennis Javelin:
The film showed the BRS operation in a very flattering light. Which makes me wonder, what does the forum think would have happened if the de-nationalisation of road haulage in the early 50’s had not happened.Any thoughts, especially from those who lived through the changes?
They ( BRS ) would probably have ended up a basket case like BL and if it hadn’t been for interference by the Labour government in the 60’s they would have gone down the pan much earlier IMO ! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
Dennis Javelin:
The film showed the BRS operation in a very flattering light. Which makes me wonder, what does the forum think would have happened if the de-nationalisation of road haulage in the early 50’s had not happened.Any thoughts, especially from those who lived through the changes?
They ( BRS ) would probably have ended up a basket case like BL and if it hadn’t been for interference by the Labour government in the 60’s they would have gone down the pan much earlier IMO ! Cheers Bewick.
As far as I can see they were very profitable in the 60’s. The only interference I can see of in the records is that the Labour government of the time refused to allow them the price rises they were asking for. The companies they bought were also very profitable at the time so it’s not as if they were coming to their rescue. If anything it was the transfer of the BR operations when they became the NFC that caused them problems. Prior to that they seemed to be operating successfully.
Just to put some perspective on the widely held perception that BRS were a dynamic and profitable operation during their years of operation.
Well for a start off BRS were never as efficient as the private sector hauliers even though they had to compete with BRS with "one arm ■■■■■■■ their back " ! The claim that BRS was profitable in the true sense of the word is quite frankly delusional for the following reasons because their only “shareholder” was HMG so for a start BRS didn’t actually pay either RFL or Insurance premiums ! OK they appeared to have the same tax discs in the windscreen together with “Special " “A” licences ( they were a joke) no fighting it out in the traffic courts like the private hauliers had to do to try and obtain a usually derisory grant of additional licences and guess who the main objector was ---- the government controlled THC on behalf of BRS.
Now we come to Derv duty and I would guarantee that BRS would receive a big fat fuel duty rebate once a year or maybe 3 or 4 times a year from HMRC ( or whatever they were called in the day) and then with regards to vehicle purchasing the manufactures would no doubt ( in return for selling at cost) be offered inducements behind the scenes which were unconnected to the sale of vehicles to BRS et al !
And oh! if they had one or two rough trading years the good old British tax payer could always be relied on to underwrite any loss BRS recorded but the private haulier would be soon out of business in similar circumstances.
You only need to read some of the many previous posts on the TN site with the comments of some of the ex BRS drivers like " best job I ever had” "no comparison to working for a private firm " dammed right too for all the reasons I have set out !
I realise I may have ruffled a few feathers but that’s my understanding of how it was and lets face it with all the “help” BRS were given they still didn’t succeed and even when Maggie T gave the whole rotten operation away for 1p in the £1 they still couldn’t keep it together so the Senior management “filled their boots” by selling it off piecemeal and retiring , very wealthy. into the sunset ! Disgusting I say !
That still doesn’t explain why we can’t watch the film on youtube,
gerard:
That still doesn’t explain why we can’t watch the film on youtube,
Labour government
gerard:
That still doesn’t explain why we can’t watch the film on youtube,
And there was me, thinking it was Brexit.
From what little I know about BRS, a few lads I was pally with worked for them, they did what Stobarts did later in getting a good public image (the BRS spotters ‘I spy’ book for example and various items to collect) and being very visible on the road. They also seemed to look after staff well with decent money and not being overworked. However drivers told me that the planners were not always on the ball, often they were sent to Scotland and told to phone in from Doncaster and then sent back north of the border again for a ‘back load’! One midlands based lad delivered in Cornwall and was told to phone in from Bristol, he was then sent back into Cornwall for china clay back to the potteries! He reckoned that if they could make it pay then he could do better and bought his own lorry and never looked back. I remember being at Derby BRS depot having a tacho check and they were trying to locate a trailer that was two years out of test and were chasing it around the country! I do know that local hauliers I knew had nothing good to say about them, like Dennis they said that they were so heavily subsidised that general hauliers had little chance of competeing with them on rates.
Pete.
Well said Pete as it sums up BRS for how they operated which no private haulier could have hoped to survive on that basis ! The only one good point that I ever heard spoken in favour of BRS by any haulier that subbed off them was that you were always sure of being paid however lousy the rate for the job was ! But then again it was HMG that was the ultimate owner of BRS so there was no way payment was ever a problem ! But otherwise BRS did untold damage to the private transport industry’s financial viability during the years they operated because they F---- up every job they touched ! Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
Well said Pete as it sums up BRS for how they operated which no private haulier could have hoped to survive on that basis ! The only one good point that I ever heard spoken in favour of BRS by any haulier that subbed off them was that you were always sure of being paid however lousy the rate for the job was ! But then again it was HMG that was the ultimate owner of BRS so there was no way payment was ever a problem ! But otherwise BRS did untold damage to the private transport industry’s financial viability during the years they operated because they F---- up every job they touched !
Thanks for your input Dennis, it’s always valued.
Can I ask a further question though. If they had such a damaging effect on the private sector why did successive Conservative governments between 1953-64 allow them to continue?
Dennis Javelin:
Bewick:
Well said Pete as it sums up BRS for how they operated which no private haulier could have hoped to survive on that basis ! The only one good point that I ever heard spoken in favour of BRS by any haulier that subbed off them was that you were always sure of being paid however lousy the rate for the job was ! But then again it was HMG that was the ultimate owner of BRS so there was no way payment was ever a problem ! But otherwise BRS did untold damage to the private transport industry’s financial viability during the years they operated because they F---- up every job they touched !Thanks for your input Dennis, it’s always valued.
Can I ask a further question though. If they had such a damaging effect on the private sector why did successive Conservative governments between 1953-64 allow them to continue?
The answer is above my pay grade Dennis but by the mid 60’s I believe they were just a shadow of there former selves although still a serious irritant to the transport industry in general ! 
Cheers Dennis.
Well I couldnt be arsed to watch it, But I must admit I did get lots of return loads from various BRS Depots and the firms that I worked for never told me not to do it,So if I may say so The BRS drivers were told what to do, Whereas the firms I drove for allways asked me to do something, The good old days Eh. .Larry
Bewick:
Dennis Javelin:
Bewick:
Well said Pete as it sums up BRS for how they operated which no private haulier could have hoped to survive on that basis ! The only one good point that I ever heard spoken in favour of BRS by any haulier that subbed off them was that you were always sure of being paid however lousy the rate for the job was ! But then again it was HMG that was the ultimate owner of BRS so there was no way payment was ever a problem ! But otherwise BRS did untold damage to the private transport industry’s financial viability during the years they operated because they F---- up every job they touched !Thanks for your input Dennis, it’s always valued.
Can I ask a further question though. If they had such a damaging effect on the private sector why did successive Conservative governments between 1953-64 allow them to continue?
The answer is above my pay grade Dennis but by the mid 60’s I believe they were just a shadow of there former selves although still a serious irritant to the transport industry in general !
That’s what I don’t understand. The 1951 Conservative government pledged to de-nationalise the nationalised road transport and partly achieved their goal but unfortunately they only managed to dispose of the good bits and retained the rump. Allowing the remaining nationalised concern to effectively control who could enter the industry seems to me to be counter to everything that they wanted achieve. However, like you the answers to that question are way above my pay grade.
What I was asking originally though was what people thought might have happened had the de-nationalisation never taken place. The film seemed to show BRS as a very forward looking organisation so what could they have become if they had a free run at things with no, or very little, competition.
I take your point about the managers in the 80’s just keeping the company trading until they could sell it off at a profit but is that not what a lot of the company’s that bought the assets in the 50’s did? I’m sure that all the operators who sold off to the likes of United Transport and TDG etc made a lot of money. The owners of Tayforth did and, certainly up here in Scotland, most of the management remained with BRS, with most of them becoming the controlling directors in the late 60’s and continued until well into the 80’s.
m.a.n rules:
spooky, i watched that yesterday on u tube and meant to post it… good film of days gone by. except the dock quees
Or indeed here……