Springs Branch
Established Member
I worked for an "old school" and hierarchical PLC* in the early 1980s, and well remember all the overt and covert status and perks indicators to show where you were on the management ladder - not that different to BR, but probably less extreme:- Offices with just lino on the floor, offices with half lino / half carpet, office fully carpeted (director level only here). And how cold and wet you did or didn't get in winter walking between your allocated car park and the front door.I ended up taking a job in the private sector. The system of perks based on seniority was as complex as BR; chairs with arms, chair with padded arms, leather chair, chair of your own choice, desk on its own, private office, parking space, company car, access to the managers' dining room instead of the canteen. A sign of the times.
I suppose one aspect of mainstream corporate life everyone in BR missed out on, being British Rail and all, was the whole company car malarkey.
IIRC, at one time the lineup of models in the domestic car market was largely based on the need to have enough gradations in trim level, engine size etc. that company car fleets could reflect every step on the management ladder. In effect, BR substituted company car one-upmanship with its travel privileges schemes.
* OT for BR management, but the company I mentioned actually allowed First Class rail travel (and Club Class in the air) to penetrate a fair way down the management food chain.
This might have been because in the swashbuckling early Thatcherite era, any thrusting, young middle manager (my peers) wouldn't be seen dead on BR, and had to be hurtling down the outside lane of a motorway, or if going to London, dashing to Manchester Airport for the BA Super Shuttle.
So booking rail tickets was a niche activity in the Travel Dept., only usually done for a minority of old-timers approaching
Against the trend and prevailing culture, I enjoyed regular InterCity Pullman full breakfasts en route to Euston, and made moderate use of BR for cross country business trips such as Manchester to Cardiff via Hereford, or Merseyside to Durham or Poole, using the peace and quiet of a First compartment in a Mark 1 CK for a couple of hours catching up on reading and thinking.
Anyhow, back to BR management . . .