Page 194 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

“JADE 270”
‘Jade 270’ was my call-sign. One I will never forget. It was my contact with anyone and
everyone for almost two years until the business eventually crashed.
I did get the transport system up and running. Locations in all corners of the UK were
established for collection of tyres and demountable bodies allocated to each point.

It worked, but I was virtually a one-man operation and as soon as the TMC saw that my
ideas worked and the locations were established they pulled the plug!

For three months I tried everything to keep control, a fantastic accountant, a true Christian
from Peterborough who I chanced on by accident travelled with me to meetings in London
and Leeds, Lincoln and Nottingham to sort out better financial arrangements. Eventually
we had to give in, our bank, The Midland at Lincoln, had been pressurised to put us out of
business.
The big boys held all the cards and closed us down with simple financial strangulation.
As soon as I had to stop and they moved me out, a tyre manufacturer subsidiary haulage
company was put in to continue the good work I had set up.
I never saw the accountant friend again and quite quickly had to sell our house and most
of our possessions to survive.

The local Air call manager came to collect his equipment and breathed a sigh of relief.
“If every one of our clients used their Air call phone as you did we would have to go out of
business!”
Unbeknown to many at that time, within five years they were overtaken by the cell phone.

BAG IN BOX
Finally, I might mention that on my travels up and down the UK seeking suitable collection
sites, I met many interesting people.

It was at the future tyre collection site between Bistol and Bath, on a small industrial estate
that I came across a small unit where the owner was experimenting with a system to keep
wine in a plastic bag inside a cardboard container.

It was late one evening but he still took the time to explain to me how he had discovered
how the wine could be preserved for several weeks even after the container had been
opened.

He had devised a system, a special tap which allowed the wine to be dispensed but did
not allow air into the container. A flexible bag made of plastic material was contained by
the rigid cardboard exterior and once initially filled, as the box and bag were airtight, the
wine would stay conserved inside for months before opening. Once opened, as the wine
left the bag, the bag simply collapsed little by little until it was empty.

Was this the original bag in box inventor? I have often wondered if I had quite by accident
seen the very first “bib” and its inventor?

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