The towns tainted
Up and down the UK, there are towns that will be forever linked with one or more demolition deaths.
I used to love Brighton. It was the closest seaside town to where I grew up; so I have lost count of the number of times I have been there. I have walked along the pier, eaten fish and chips, played the amusements and strolled along the prom (regardless of whether the brass band was playing “tiddly-om-pom-pom”). I have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries there and I bought my wife’s engagement ring there too, in a tiny vintage jewellery shop in The Lanes.
But I haven’t been there since the very beginning of 2022. My mother passed away in Brighton Hospital. And while I realise that the town itself played no part in her death, Brighton now feels somehow tainted. Tarnished. Returning there now would feel like a betrayal.
Maybe this is just me. Maybe I am over-reacting to grief and to loss. But it does make me wonder if there are towns in the UK that - for those in demolition circles - carry that same whiff death and disquiet.
To this day, seeing the name Didcot on a road sign is enough to trigger a pang; not of loss as such, but of regret and of overwhelming sadness.
Esher in Surrey is just up the road from my home. It is a town in which I have shopped, dined out and been to the cinema. But that too makes me think of a demolition death.
As a child, I visited Great Yarmouth on holiday several times. I have been back - for work and pleasure - several times since. But Great Yarmouth was also the scene of a demolition death. If I find myself in Norfolk and see a sign for Great Yarmouth, I no longer think of the pleasure beach.
I used to handle the media relations for a construction equipment company based in Slough, just up the road from the factory that produces Mars bars. But, as I drive round the M25 and see the name Slough, I don’t think happy thoughts of times gone by; of the heady aroma of chocolate carried on the breeze; or even of John Betjeman summoning “friendly bombs”.
I have never been to Longannet, nor to Redcar. But, if I visited either I likely would get that sense of familiarity mixed with unease and foreboding.
In all likelihood, the residents of these places are blissfuly unaware that the names of their towns are now inextricably linked to a demolition death. Residents of Redcar probably imagine they are best known for their race track. Those that live in Didcot will proudly tell you that its railway station is among a select group of UK parkways. To most people living close by, Esher’s key attraction is probably The Good Earth Chinese restaurant (and very good it is too).
But for those of us within or allied to demolition, Didcot, Redcar, Longannet, Great Yarmouth, Slough and Esher are not famous but infamous; they are black marks on the UK map; they are towns forever tainted by a demolition fatality.
It is a year and change since the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) handed down fines totalling almost £60 million to 10 members of the National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC) for their part in a bid-rigging and price-fixing scandal.
That scandal, which brought the entire UK demolition industry into disrepute, resulted in several director disqualifications. Yet the NFDC opted to impose no further sanctions upon the guilty parties.
During an exclusive interview with DemolitionNews shortly after he took over the role of NFDC President, John Lynch said: “We were not set up to police any of the members.” He went on to say: “We are a Federation, not a police force”.
Yet here we are, not 13 months later, and the Federation has seemingly pivoted. Sort of.
Following a meeting on 21 March, the National Federation of Demolition Contractors announced a rule change. Henceforth, NFDC Officer positions from Regional Vice-Chairman up to President can only be held by persons who have been employed on a PAYE basis for a minimum of two years by the NFDC member company they wish to represent.
This means that no self-employed persons or sub-contractors linked to NFDC members can be voted into or hold an officer position within the NFDC.
The NFDC is a club; a club that sets its own rules as it sees fit.
But what does it say about the integrity of a club if they are willing to look the other way on wide-scale bid-rigging but then get all uptight about how an individual is remunerated? And if they can introduce a rule aimed at one or more individual people, could they not have done so for 10 member companies that so tarnished the reputation of the industry in general and the Federation in particular?