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Railfreight is far from bullet proof
Page 24
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UNFORTUNATELY, The Hawk's Bird's-eye View of September 22 must have been obscured.
Far from Railfreight being "bullet-proof" and "hauliers, along with other citizens, having to dig into their pockets to make up our losses", The Hawk clearly does not realise that BR's freight business has received no subsidy from Government since 1978 (under the terms of the 1974 Railways Act).
Our losses are real losses which we shall have to cover by borrowing. In turn we must make interest payments on those borrowings and must repay them in full.
The NUM strike has hit us hard — our chairman has made that abundantly clear on a number of occasions. Yes, we have lost business and yes, we have lost some of it permanently. So please do not mislead your readers into thinking that we are ultimately immune from the effects of the strike. We are not.
H. C. SAN DERSON Director Freight British Railways Board