Kate headed up to the House of Lords on Friday for the Fellows Gowning – welcoming new members into the Institute for Couriers – of which she is a Services to Industry Fellow.
Sadly Lord Falkland – who was due to retire at the event just prior to his 85th birthday – was not present due to poor health however his gift to say thank you for his many year service to the industry was to be presented with the ability to take sole control of raising and lowering the bridge on London Bridge – a gift he was said to be delighted with, said Tracey Worth, Chief Executive of the IoC.
Carl Lomas , IoC Chair, spoke about the IoC’s continuing mission to focus on employment status, education and clean air. He reminded us all of the recent negotiations now enabling subcontractors to get up to £7k grants in order to
upgrade their vehicles to low emissions replacements, supporting our pledge for a cleaner last mile industry. The focus form the IoC remains the last mile delivery – ‘client chain, not supply chain’, as Carl said.
Two honorary Fellows were presented with their hoods, Jim O’Sullivan’s from Highways UK – with a pledge from the agency to continue to focus on safety, customer service and delivery, and Professor Peter John of the University of West London work-in with the IoC to ‘professionalise’ our industry with a focus on our new Express Management degree.
Over a dozen Fellows were then awarded their hoods. Next IoC event is the round table event on March 16th – see IoC website for more details.
Kate says, ‘The IoC has worked tirelessly to continue to increase, sustain and professionalise our industry that really is the lifeblood of UK plc. diamonds support of it will continue and I look forward to the future building respect, diversity and an understanding of the challenges our industry our industry faces, ,with the IoC’.
