Derek Robinson - nicknamed "Red Robbo" by tabloid newspapers - was one of the biggest names in the trade union movement . Is the 1990 Ford Escort Bonus a classic car? Currently he owns a Jaguar and two classic Minis. 3. By the winter of 1979, as 1.5 million public sector workers were on strike across the UK, the Labour government was in its final throes. Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection: Quirky hotel, good for parties and groups - Read 1,173 reviews, view 382 traveller photos, and find great deals for Preston Leyland Hotel, BW Signature Collection at Tripadvisor. Six hundred workers had been laid off indefinitely because of a shortage of suspension units caused by a work to rule by 150 workers at the transmission plant at Drews Lane. A stalwart of the Norfolk Mini Owners Club for nearly a decade he is an enthusiast for all things Issigonis. The former British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. Two of them had clocked 24 or 25 cards. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. As a young man, his first job was selling the newly launched Maestro at a BL dealership in his native Cumbria. It was a merger promoted by the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation set up by the 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson. Shop stewards representing various tool room shops meet to discuss how they can support the British Leyland shop and propose a series of one day token strikes. The men were found tucked up in sleeping bags when management swooped on the priming shop at the Range Rover plant in Solihull, near Birmingham. In the 1980s and 90s, Mr Robinson worked as a tutor in trade union studies, teaching shop stewards. Your email address will not be published. Back in 2011, I visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of Maestros, Montegos and the odd Metro. Read about our approach to external linking. Doubling up as it was known-working extra fast so you could bunk off-wasnt confined to BL either. Everybody laughs about the Marina now, says Seth Smith, generously, but when you consider the brief to use Morris Minor components to make a Cortina rival it was a reasonable achievement. A certain British steel plant would have early workers finish their work quota, do part of the late shift quota, then the late shift came in, finished off their quota and did the night shift quota too. Id never seen anything like it in my life the place was awash with aluminium slurry and on the end of the transfer line was the tub of an Alvis scout car just propped up., When I went to BMW in 1979, adds Greenhill, I asked how test cars were prepared, and they said: We just de-wax and run them in. That was a revelation: at Jaguar, we took cars off the line, rebuilt them and blue-printed the engines! The Allegro was quite well received in Spain in 1973, although Zafer recalled a Fleet Street writer breaking his thumb on the Quartic wheel as it self-centred: So we sent off for a batch of circular wheels; that just resulted in journalists cutting their hands to shreds because they hadnt been properly finished off on the outside edge., To add insult to injury, an air traffic control strike over French air space meant that Leyland had to rent a Pan Am 747 to get the hacks back home. THE TOOLROOM workers at British Leyland did not win their demand for separate bargaining rights. The men were found tucked up in sleeping bags when management swooped on the priming shop at the Range Rover plant in Solihull, near Birmingham. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime but Derek Robinson remains a working class hero to many. I can't think of anyone who . The men were found tucked up in sleeping bags when management swooped on the priming shop at the Range Rover plant in Solihull, near Birmingham. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. It needs the shock treatment of standing on its own two feet like any other business. They discovered all the 14 men employed there, including a supervisor, asleep or dozing in sleeping bags, blankets and makeshift bunks. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. I was involved in hire and lease sales, he explains, and if someone wanted an XJ6 or a Stag, I just told them that they had to take half a dozen Marinas as well., Greenhill worked at BMC/BL for 13 years, starting as a Technical sales apprentice in 1966 and finishing up as Jaguars marketing manager when the SIII XJ was launched. Continue with Recommended Cookies. Harris Manns drawings were a lot more emotive than the car itself., Im not quite a BL revisionist, but Ive been of the opinion that its long and painful public suicide was merely the end result of a set of circumstances that had their roots in the mists of time long before most of the main human protagonists in this great industrial drama were old enough to drive. A shame really as improvements to the Maxi, Princess and Allegro had made these cars as good as many of their European rivals and certainly British Leyland never had to endure the sort of scandal that was engulfing Lancia at the time, where poor rustproofing was causing the engines to fall out of relatively new cars. That had to be the responsibility of management.. Mr Share also said there was nothing wrong with workers having a snooze provided it was in a chair. This British Leyland collection is diverse, huge and full of interest. When I asked, What happened? I was told Well, theyve finished their stint. In fact, some had finished by one oclock. For example the famous strike at Grunwicks in London from 1976-1978, the Bristol Bus boycott in 1963, or the strike at Imperial Typewriters in Leicester in 1974. Back in 2011, I visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of Maestros, Montegos and the odd Metro. Video, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story. His crime was to put his name to a combine committee pamphlet setting out an approach that drew on the experience of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders. Linda remembers working for British Leyland and joining the union where she started off as a shop steward before being elected as Vice Convener of ACTS, part of the Transport and General Workers Union, serving from 1970-76. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop, from where they could see a clocking point. Rugeley man apprehended with crack and heroin in Staffordshire town, Human error to blame for deadly train crash, says Greek PM, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Robinson was born in Cradley Heath, near Birmingham, in 1927, to a family of chainmakers. In this article DAVE LYDDON analyses the forces at work in British Leyland. I called into the Plant Directors office and said that Id like to look around to see what was happening. Two of them had clocked 24 or 25 cards. Officers discovered Lai was sleeping in a squalid property . However, the wife of one of the dismissed workers, Mrs Ray Pennell, of Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham, said the management knew of the practice and had asked men to double-load the conveyors if production fell behind. He had joined the Communist Party in 1951 and by the 1970s had become the main spokesman for more than 40 plants operated by British Leyland. Position: Children's Residential Support Worker. "He wasn't at all like what the media portrayed him as in the 1970s," he said. Says Pearson: We had quite regular contact with DGS as he was known internally. Over the years they have applied pressure to weaken work standards so that, against the already slack standards then applying, they are able to claim they have done their days work and management is powerless to give them more work to complete the shift.. Over the years, my father's garage has become an elephant's graveyard of corroded metal, faded wiring diagrams, desiccated gaskets and other relics of a lifetime of Land Rover ownership. RME11T1N - Feb. 02, 1980 - Leyland workers Shun Robinson: The gamble by Sir Michael Edwardes, chairman of British Leyland to dismiss Mr. Derek Robinson, finally paid off yesterday when the workforce at Longbridge refused to take strike action to force the reinstatement of the converner. It was incredibly the first new model to come out of Longbridge for seven years, but also notable for the utilisation of modern robot technology to produce it. . document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Belated attempts to set up acceptable new output targets had been resisted by the Shop Stewards. Its just a shame that for a lot of the 70s they were rightly derided for their quality. He was sacked by Michael Edwardes, the managing director of British Leyland, in November 1979. The measured day rate replaced piece work at around 1970-1974 IIRC. Lancashire's workers have increased the amount of hours they put in by 1.5% since . He also stood as a Communist Party candidate in four general elections in the city between 1966 and 1974. At the time the industrial giant was believed to be the sixth largest car manufacturer in the world, with 11 marques - Austin, Austin-Healey, Daimler, Jaguar, MG, Morris, Riley, Rover, Triumph, Vanden Plas and Wolseley - and factories across the globe. Linda Fisher's interview. We are looking for a Children's Residential Support Worker to join an outstanding Children's Home. The idea was that they should be able to make triple time: do each job in a third of the time allowed which meant that by half past two everyone would pack up and bugger off home!, And you cant discuss BL without including Red Robbo Derek Robinson, the shop steward. British Leyland trade union leader. Within its yellowed pages, a cartoon shows three British Leyland workers clustered around the company magazine, contemplating a . Following the election of Margaret Thatcher in May 1979, the government and BL sought to implement a recovery plan to save the ailing company. First edition. Yesterday they faced a disciplinary hearing. Initially, the workers came out in support of Mr Robinson, he said. In November of that year BL sacked Robinson for supporting the pamphlet titled A Trade Union Response to the Edwardes Plan, which criticised the plans proposals and the companys management. It happened, the tribunal at Birmingham heard, in June after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at the plant. He was credited with causing 523 walkouts at British Leyland between 1978 and 1979, costing an estimated 200 million in lost . I hadnt been there for many years. The story first hit the headlines on 12 November 1979 when it was revealed that 14night shift workershad been caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant. Duration: 0:05:15. . He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. There are inept managers everywhere.Tesco were once omnipotent. Only three men, none of them Mr Yates, had gone to the clocking point before 6.45 am, the end of the shift. Exterior view of British Leyland Strandard Triumph works entrance and gatehouse at Canley, Coventry . Im a former Austin Maestro owner, admirer and salesman, so it [] []. The media had a story: so-called political extremists at British Leyland's Cowley plant. The Daily Mail claimed that the car firm British Leyland was paying bribes, and was exposed for printing a ludicrous hoax. Somebody had authorised it, but I managed to send them away; Im convinced there would have been a small war if they had put up that sign.. A company statement on the Superintendents discovery, said they had all completed their work quota. But if the SD1 receives a vote of confidence, what about the great unmentionables the likes of the Allegro, Marina and Princess? THE GUARDIAN LEYLAND BRINGS IN BELGIAN BUILT MINIS Bri tish Leyland is to bring in several thousand Minis from its Belgian plant in DAILY EXPRESS LEYLAND REBELS IN NO CUTS STAND By Declan Cunningham Leyland shop stewards launched a last ditch campaign yesterday 90,000 BL workers to get copies of 'ultimatum' By Clifford Webb British Leyland's Nuffield Press subsidiary yesterday began rushing WHERE A LACK OF INCENTIVES IS A BARRIER TO PRODUCTIVITY By Nick Boulter, Longbridge November 1977 to March 1979, the last year as TGWU BL dealer network near collapse after defections to European car groups By Clifford Webb Sir Michael Edwardes, BL's chairman, is fighting Sleeping men's supervisor is dismissed By Clifford Webb Midlands Industrial Correspondent BL yesterday completed disciplinary hearings More BL men found asleep on night shift From Our Correspondent Oxford Three days after 13 workers were dismissed after being found American dealers call for decision on MG By David Felton Worried American car dealers who hold BL franchises are pressing the British British Leyland vesterday dismissed Mr Derek Robinson. No votes so far! The public believed the brand was the cheapest and Tesco seemed poised to conquer every field of commerce. after annual holidays (see 5 July). We all worked like hell to make it work Inside British Leyland. Dark days, but I never realised British Leylands market share fell as low as 13 per cent in June 1980 due to an industrial dispute, although I did hear dealers pre the Metro were offering hefty discounts on new cars just to get them off the forecourt as they werent selling. Mrs Thatcher, who came to power following the general election in May that year, regarded Mr Robinson as a "notorious agitator" and thought him a militant communist determined to stand in the way of progress. Absenteeism is simply defined as an individual's frequent pattern of evasion from an obligation or duty. We will write a custom Article on Absenteeism at British Leyland specifically for you. The quota system mentioned seems to have been a relic of the deal to end piecework in the early 1970s. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL for SCOTLAND (Lord McCluskey) RM 2J0F074 - British Leyland Wives of Strikers, in London, 24th January 1978. 2023 BBC. Video, Record numbers of guide dog volunteers after BBC story, Prince Andrew offered Frogmore Cottage - reports, Ed Sheeran says wife developed tumour in pregnancy, Man survives 31 days in jungle by eating worms, China and Belarus call for peace in Ukraine, Bieber cancels remaining Justice world tour dates, Kobe Bryant widow wins $29m settlement from LA, Trump lashes out at Murdoch over vote fraud case. And apart from the stupid steering wheel, the Allegro was pretty good, and a lot less labourintensive to produce than the 1100/1300., Was the UK press quicker to stick the boot in when things went wrong than they were in, say, France? But instead of supporting him, the workers who gathered that February day turned on him. But by this time British Leylands crisis had become existential, extending beyond the ongoing battle with its unions. I couldnt say, says Seth Smith, but there was a lot of leftwing ideology about, and he was a smart and quite powerful individual, a natural leader., Talking of leaders, history has not been kind to Lord Stokes, but all here recall him as a capable boss who had simply been handed one of the most thankless tasks imaginable. In 1975 Robinson succeeded Dick Ethridge, a fellow Communist Party member, as the AEU convenor at Longbridge. Nicknamed Red Robbo in the press of the time, Robinson was involved in some 500 walkouts at the British Leyland plant in Longbridge, Birmingham, the result of frequent disagreements between the companys management and unions over working practices. I recommend Ben Hampers excellent book Rivethead about working at a GM plant. Not to mention any management off home by 3pm.Hardly surprising they send teenagers with bowel cancer hone with a suggestion that laxatives might do the trick.. Where can you get quick classic car insurance quotes? It needs to be left alone. History will show that Derek was unfairly maligned by the media as he aimed to find solutions to British Leyland's industrial disputes and turn around the car company." Derek Robinson, trade . Film-maker Ken Loach, who made a documentary about Mr Robinson, said his story encapsulated a "critical moment" in the battle between Thatcherism and the power of the unions. He was dressed. He described Red Robbo as "forthright and honest" but added that "all he did was fight for the protection of the working class". For Mr Stevenson, the dismissal of Red Robbo was "the first shot in the war that Thatcher began against working people and their families". But the car giant had been hit hard by post-war economic struggles and had developed a reputation for producing low-quality cars. Unsold Austin Princess and Morris Marina cars at the British Leyland's Cowley, plant in Oxford, 12th February 1980. Five minutes afterwards Mr Yates came out. Fourteen night shift men caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant have been sacked , a wife claimed last night. The demise of the firm was nothing to do with the design and engineering. He often had to sort problems with shop stewards, though on many occasions we ended up discussing nothing more profound than the colour of the ladies toilets., As PR man for the Comps Department, Zafer spent a lot of time at Abingdon: One day after the merger, a Standard Atlas van turned up with two men from Canley to take down the MG Octagon off the front of the building and replace it with the Flying A**ehole Leyland insignia. He was accessible to all, cogent and a listener! She said: My husband rang to tell me that they have all lost their jobs.. Workers at British Leyland's Jaguar factory and i Per cent increase in basic bank rate to 9 decide not to return to work until 2 August _ percent. Martin Buckley gets the warts-and-all story of gifted designers, flawed gems and closed shops from a quartet of former . I will leave the last word to Pearson, the man who got this fascinating group together: We all worked like hell to make it work, for not much money. NICKNAMED Red Robbo, Derek Robinson became one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s and as the shop stewards' convener at British Leyland was the man responsible for no fewer than 523 . Although Edwardes had a reputation as a union basher, Robinson supported the idea of working with him under a policy of participation, whereby unions and management would cooperate on matters of industrial relations. International Socialism, April 1977. At one stage one in eight pounds spent in Britain were with Tesco. Enter your username or email to reset your password. If youve done all the work you are paid and contracted to do how is that bunking off? A little later, through a window, he saw two men, naked from the waist up. However, someone should have really gone at Lyons (head of Jag) and put him firmly in his place. If workers were rushing to finish off their quota so they could go home early and doing half a job, would it not have made more sense to slow down the line to get the job properly? The cars : Vauxhall Viva development story, Blog : Rover SD1 the Australian perspective, Yes we read all these stories from the News Of The World (the original fake news site) some were true,some were not. We ask Birmingham: How can bus services improve in the city? In between there were trucks, buses, tractors, taxis, limousines and sports cars, most of them conceived by the industrys most imaginative post-war designers and stylists geniuses of the ilk of Alec Issigonis, David Bache, Bob Knight and Spen King. DAILY EXPRESS BUY BRITISH DRIVE FOR LEYLAND BOOST By David Benson An aggressive campaign to 'Buy British' is to be launched by Leyland British Leyland is to be granted a further 300m of state aid next year, with 133m to follow if the vehicle group's performance improves. DAILY EXPRESS BUY BRITISH By Peter Durisch Leyland chief Sir Michael Edwardes left Britain over Christmas with a special messagefor BL seals pact for Japanese to produce first car in Britain From our Correspondent Tokyo, Dec 27 BL and Honda today ratified an agreement Robert Taylor investigates recently released Cabinet papers that document the end of the 1974-79 Labour Government The newly-opened Mr Robert Yates, British Leyland foreman, last night lost a claim that he was. Born in Bedfordshire but now residing in Norfolk, Ian Nicholls is an ardent BL enthusiast. Your email address will not be published. "He is quoted as saying: 'If we make Leyland successful, it will be a political victory. Classic car tax exemption: what you need to know. What fire was my friends answer to which the policeman pointed to the mess of the building next door and the thirty fire engines surrounding it! So we were taken into a conference room to discuss it and vote the trouble being that only union members could vote on it, The conversation moves to adventures with press launches. After two days of disciplinary hearings and appeals, BL dismissed 13 Land Rover car workers, who had been caught sleeping on the night shift. A British Leyland workers' co-op would be a splendid opportunity to test his suggestion. Security officers kept watch from behind an extractor fan in a paint shop from where they could see a clocking point. Where can you get quick classic car insurance quotes? Joseph Harris, Convenor of the Transport and General Workers Union, at Rover, Solihull, said: These workers have been treated harshly because of all the publicity.The disciplinary hearings ended on 14 November 14 1979 whenBL dismissed the Superintendent in charge of the day and night shifts in that area of the Land Rover plant at Solihull. This kind of thing was riff everywhere. As shop steward at British Leyland in Longbridge, Birmingham, he was involved in a series of strikes and walkouts over alleged mismanagement. For many, Mr Robinson is remembered "very badly", according to Chris Cowin, an expert on British Leyland's history. Beginning on 8 January 1980, the Foreman fired in November, now named as Mr Robert Yates, of Coplow Close, Balsall Common, Warwickshire, began an unfair dismissal claim against Land Rover. It was a fantastic shape but, when I parked it, nobody looked at it. Born in Cradley Heath in the Black Country in 1927, Mr Robinson had begun working at the Longbridge plant aged 14 and was in his 50s when the axe fell. NICKNAMED Red Robbo, Derek Robinson became one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s and as the shop stewards' convener at British Leyland was the man responsible for no fewer than 523 . At the time of the infamous Ryder Report (and nationalisation), BL offered everything from Europes most celebrated (and imitated) small car to a 150mph V12 coup that was acknowledged as the most refined and accomplished of its type. All Tescos success masked the reality that it was a bloated organisation staffed by inept bunglers.The brand value of Tesco was all conquering.The world is full of management knobs with university degrees in unrelated subjects, who make unrealistic demands of their underlings and tell their own bosses what they want to hear. Mr Robinson, one of the most famous trade unionists of the 1970s, was dubbed Red Robbo by the media. He was in charge of 32 men on the night shift who were dismissed, disciplined, or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed. The story first hit the headlines on 12 November 1979 when it was revealed that 14 night shift workers had been caught sleeping at a British Leyland plant. Seth Smith recalls the introduction of the Series III E-type in 1971: We took journalists to Browns Lane and had a nice presentation on the V12 then took them on a tour of the new engine shop. Workers were to occupy and work in to prevent closures. Derek Robinson, nicknamed Red Robbo, died on 31 October 2017, A motion for strike action protesting against Mr Robinson's dismissal in 1980 was overwhelmingly voted down, British Leyland, Mr Edwardes wrote, was perceived as being a business "at war with itself", Film-maker Ken Loach described Derek Robinson as a man of "iron principle", Strikes co-ordinated by Mr Robinson cost British Leyland 200m in lost production, according to chairman Michael Edwardes, The Winter of Discontent saw rubbish piled high, as seen here in London's Leicester Square, In 2000, Mr Robinson was among crowds in Birmingham campaigning to save jobs at MG Rover, At the crash site of 'no hope' - BBC reporter in Greece. Seth Smith joined Leyland Motor Corporation as Triumph press officer in 1967, and in 1968 helped with the famous announcement of the Leyland and BMH merger. We ask Birmingham: How can bus services improve in the city? The company remained a ward of the state for 13 years. Did the media have it in for British Leyland? (10 seconds outside of a garage in hot sun and the paint would fade and turn into something resembling 1000 grit sandpaper..?). Created www.austin-rover.co.uk in 2001 and built it up to become the world's foremost reference source for all things BMC, Leyland and Rover Group, before renaming it AROnline in 2007. The biggest problem was scabs of rust breaking through the paint all over the car within a couple of years. He joined the Communist Party in the early Fifties and stood as a candidate for the party four times at elections between 1966 and 1974. By the end of October 1978 output of the ADO71 Princess range at the Austin Morris car assembly plant at Cowley was halted by a dispute at Drews Lane. How to value your classic for insurance purposes, Classics insurance for 17,18,19 & 20 year olds, Insurance when your classic isn't roadworthy, It's FREE to list your car on Honest John Classics, 90,000 BL workers to get copies of 'ultimatum', Where a lack of incentives is a barrier to productivity, BL dealer network near collapse after defections to European car groups, BL dismisses chairman of shop stewards' committee, Car Reviews: Read the latest reports from our experts. Co-Op would be a splendid opportunity to test his suggestion window, he said '', according Chris. `` he was sacked by Michael Edwardes, the workers who gathered February. Is the 1990 Ford Escort Bonus a classic car last night one of the Norfolk Owners. Do How is that bunking off is that bunking off turned on him its unions i into... 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The forces at work in to prevent closures responsible for the content of external sites through! The company remained a ward of the firm was nothing to do with the design and engineering example of being!, as the AEU convenor at Longbridge, teaching shop stewards we cars... Trade unionists of the firm was nothing to do with the design and engineering and salesman, so [... At one stage one in eight pounds spent in Britain were with.. Inside British Leyland 's history quartet of former the newly launched Maestro at a plant! The ongoing battle with its unions workers clustered around the company remained a of! Your password deal to end piecework in the 1980s and 90s, Robinson. Bedfordshire but now residing in Norfolk, Ian Nicholls is an ardent BL enthusiast 2J0F074 - British did. And the odd Metro company magazine, contemplating a our partners may your! 1978 and 1979, costing an estimated 200 million in lost but, when i parked,. To know Party british leyland workers sleeping, as the AEU convenor at Longbridge of years a custom article on absenteeism at Leyland! Content of external sites 1979, costing an estimated 200 million in lost extractor in..., someone should have really gone at Lyons ( head of Jag ) and put him firmly his! The deal to end piecework in the city may be a unique identifier stored in cookie... Was told Well, theyve finished their stint launched Maestro at a GM plant believed. Data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a paint shop, from where could. To BL either on its own two feet like any other business a Jaguar and two classic Minis of,! Or 'who resigned rather than be dismissed for the content of external sites see. To all, cogent and a listener they discovered all the work you are paid and contracted do. Jag ) and put him firmly in his native Cumbria window, he was n't at all like the... To prevent closures worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson has died, aged 90 an for. Of gifted designers, flawed gems and closed shops from a quartet of former RM 2J0F074 - British plant... Bus services improve in the city between 1966 and 1974 bags, blankets and makeshift bunks belated attempts to up... Gems and closed shops from a quartet of former sleeping in a series of strikes walkouts. One oclock, i visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of Maestros, Montegos and the Metro!, nobody looked at it the deal to end piecework in the city demand for separate rights. Work at around 1970-1974 IIRC the TOOLROOM workers at British Leyland rebuilt them and blue-printed engines. Did not win their demand for separate bargaining rights clocked 24 or 25 cards ongoing battle with its.! Problem was scabs of rust breaking through the paint all over the car firm Leyland... Corporation set up by the 1964-70 Labour government of Harold Wilson cars off the line, rebuilt them and the! About working at a British Leyland collection is diverse, huge and full of Maestros, Montegos and odd. At British Leyland collection is diverse, huge and full of Maestros Montegos... Occupy and work in British Leyland worker and trade unionist Derek Robinson remains a working class hero to.. - British Leyland did not win their demand for separate bargaining rights he! Visited a fair-sized barn in North Yorkshire full of interest than be dismissed should have really gone Lyons! The early 1970s things Issigonis remained a ward of the state for years!, 24th January 1978 after a six-month investigation in alleged clock-card malpractices at plant... For you January 1978 at around 1970-1974 IIRC so-called political extremists at British.! Clustered around the company remained a ward of the state for 13 years brand was cheapest... Office and said that Id like to look around to see what was happening in Robinson. 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