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Ken Hatcher
Successive RHA chairmen have found themselves compelled by circumstances to specialize in one subject directly connected with the industry. Ken Hatcher, the newly appointed chairman, plans not to become so involved. It is his intention to use the specialists on the RHA board.
There is no reason to suppose that Ken will be unsuccessful in his plans, since it seems that only once in his life has he planned unsuccessfully — and that's how he found himself in road transport. During his service in the Royal Navy, when he was for a time the communications officer, on the radar vessel HMS Ocean, Ken mapped out a civilian career in electronics. He was all set to go into radar communications in civil airways, when his father died and Ken and his brother moved in "temporarily" to tlidy.up the family haulage business. "It was like going into the office for an hour in the morning and planning to keep other appointments; it just never happens," he said, "and now 30 years on I'm still in haulage and without any great enthusiasm for it."
Ken, who also has an investment company, reckons that since he has been in transport he has devoted at least half his time to other matters. During the next two years he expects that RHA business will take up 25 per cent of his time. This worries him. "All these area dinners will play havoc with my waistline," he said, "and interfere with my climbing." He also does a bit of skiing' If Ken Hatcher does specialize in his period of office he's almost sure to become the "conservationist" chairman. He abhors waste and misuse of resources, whether they be financial, physical or human. He has an insatiable appetite for the countryside, nature, climbing and hill walking, and when he is not enjoying the delights of his garden in Chislehurst, Kent, he is tramping in Snowdonia, where he and his wife have a weekend cottage.