A career that contributed much to transport, teaching and writing: Our columnist remembers his friend Paul Fawcett, whose influence is still strongly felt
I am so sad that my old friend and colleague, Paul Fawcett, died recently. He was a legend in the transport industry and his contribution is reflected in the success stories of those transport professionals whose careers have been influenced by his teaching and writing.
I owe so much to Paul, for he was the one who encouraged me to take up part-time teaching in transport subjects at St John’s College in Manchester. And how proud I was to work with him as his co-author in setting up what proved to be a revolutionary publication back in 1983, Croner’s Coach & Bus Operations.
An editorial in Coaching Journal described the venture at its launch as “the happy combination of two authors, one an academic, and the other a practical busman”. It described our relationship to a tee.
Paul and I worked together on several transport projects which involved quite a bit of travel.
I recall an occasion when we were having breakfast on the early morning train from Manchester to London, and I admit that I am not a morning person. I was happy to bury my head in the newspaper whereas Paul was determined to engage in conversation, and in the end, I put down my paper in an act of undisguised frustration so that Paul could have his way. He simply picked up my newspaper and buried his head in it, leaving me to reflect on my naivety.
He then added insult to injury by ordering kippers, which did nothing for the ambience of the dining car.
Revenge was mine a few years later when we were involved with the TAS Partnership in writing a series of distance learning modules, and we were asked to submit our work in ASCII format. I rather unkindly suggested that Paul’s computer was of such an age that it was more likely to be Arthur Askey format.
We were also colleagues on the RSA National CPC committee, and despite criticisms of the examination format from some quarters, we worked hard to improve standards of multiple choice questions.
It’s very easy to know the answer of a question that you have set – it is very difficult to choose three incorrect answers that are credible, yet are unambiguous. Our work wasn’t helped, however, when a colleague on the committee publicly called the CPC exam a “Mickey Mouse memory test”. We had to work within the framework of the EU directive and despite those constraints I think that ultimately, we proved the comment wrong.
There are lots of people in the transport industry who are indebted to Paul, and so many have expressed to me their appreciation of him. I doubt that my years as a transport consultant and writer, after having been an operator, would have been possible without his influence and I will always be grateful to him.
