BITA's outgoing Standards and Legislation Consultant John Tredray pays tribute to the professionalism of the industry
A career spanning four decades drew to a close in February when one of the industrial truck trade's most experienced and influential captains retired.
John Tredray, BITA's Standards and Legislation Consultant since 2004, bid farewell to colleagues and friends alike on February 21 at a special lunch held to mark the end of his 39-year career – a career which has taken him across the globe as a forklift truck standards trouble shooter.
One of BITA's major benefits to its members is its involvement at an influential level with UK, European and World Authorities involved in the standards and legislation field and John led BITA's endeavours in this field for the past four years.
James Clark, secretary general of BITA, said: "John has a knack of listening to everyone getting excited and worked up about matters technical, and then quietly and logically he outlines his understanding of the problem, which on numerous occasions dissipates the tension and clarifies the particular issue.
"John is skilled in translating to laymen the complicated terminology of standard making. You cannot put a price on such a personality and John's presence will be sorely missed by his colleagues."
There were two "life-changing meetings" in John's life, both casual catch-up meetings with friends over a pint - one in 1969 resulted in the start of his career in forklifts, joining Lancer Boss as a design draughtsman, the other in 1998 saw John take a new position at Jungheinrich as its Standards and Legislation engineer.
John, a father of three grown-up children from Wootton in Bedfordshire, explains: "I went for a drink with a friend and he mentioned that Lancer Boss was looking for a design engineer. This was a new field for me but I went for it.
"I call that meeting my 'life-changing moment' as from then on, I never looked back. Although I had studied aircraft design, I took a different direction and that chat over a pint changed my whole life."
As you might expect, John has seen some changes to the industry since that pint in 1969. Despite being frantically busy right up until his last day with BITA – which he spent in Paris at a meeting – John took time to reflect on how the industry has changed.
He said: "I have seen many changes in the industry, not least the increasing sophistication of the trucks, which are amazingly technical now with the increase in computerised control and safety.
"But it's the globalisation of the industry which has set us the most tests at BITA. When I started at Lancer Boss, the then chairman, Sir Neville Bowmen-Shaw predicted there would probably only be about five major manufacturers of industrial trucks in the future, and he was more or less right, but they are across the globe and trying to standardise the industry has been a huge task.
"As Chairman of both the BSI committee MHE7 and the European Technical Committee, CEN/TC150, on Industrial truck safety, one of the things I am most proud of is being involved in the setting industrial truck standards across the globe. When I first became a consultant with BITA four years ago, there were around 90 major sticking points on the new safety standard across the world, and we have whittled them down to about six or seven regional variations, which I am very proud of.
"But without doubt the thing I will miss most is the people in this industry. I get very emotional talking about it, but I have made so many good friends it's unbelievable. You may have to be quite hard or tough in a meeting but outside of it the friendships are very strong. The people are highly professional and I will miss them very much.
"But this is a new chapter for me and although it is daunting, I am looking forward to it and have much to look back on and feel proud of."
John, a music and golf fan, is now looking forward to a happy and healthy retirement with his wife Caroline, whom he married in that life changing year of 1969. His decision to retire coincides with Caroline's farewell in March to the police after 18 years in administration for the Bedfordshire force. The couple – who now have six grandchildren - plan to travel the world, starting with a trip to the Red Sea in March.
James Clark concluded: "While members are very sad that John is retiring they are delighted that Bob Hine is succeeding him as BITA's Technical Consultant. Bob has spent a lifetime in the materials handling industry and the BITA Board knows that Bob is going to contribute greatly to its technical activities. We welcome him on board."