British Light Steel Pressings Ltd was a company at Warple Way, Acton, London producing bodies for the vehicle industry.
British Light Steel Pressings Ltd (BLSP) was formed in 1930. In its early years it made pressings for various purposes. In 1937 it was taken over by the Rootes Group, to make body shells for Sunbeam cars. After World War II, despite transfer of production of Sunbeam-Talbots from the old London Talbot factory to a new government funded site at Ryton, BLSP continued in production. In 1948, for example, versions of the Sunbeam-Talbot 80 and 90 were available with saloon bodywork from BLSP or drophead coupé bodywork by another nearby Rootes company, Thrupp & Maberly.[1] During the mid-1950s car bodies produced included the Sunbeam Mk III saloon and convertible, Sunbeam Alpine (1953–55) and thereafter the Humber Hawk, Super Snipe and Imperial in saloon and estate car versions. BLSP Ltd ran a successful apprenticeship scheme covering both professional engineering and trade programmes.
By the 1960s BLSP had some of the largest presses in Britain and, as well as body shells, produced a wide range of car and commercial components for the Rootes Group including suspension units, petrol tanks and small pressings.[2] The Rootes group by this time included Humber, Hillman, Sunbeam-Talbot, Singer, Commer and Karrier.
However, from the late 1950s the company suffered from industrial unrest, which has been cited as the root of problems leading eventually to the takeover of Rootes by Chrysler. The first strike of 1,500 workers began when a couple of newly-wed night shift workers asked to be transferred to day shift, and became known as the 'Honeymoon Strike'. A spate of 82 mainly unofficial strikes in 1961 caused the loss of over 27,000 man hours at the BLSP plant, which in turn caused the loss of 17,000 man hours at other Rootes plants. Finally a strike led to an ultimatum to all 1000 workers to return to work or be sacked. A recruitment drive was started to replace striking workers but as the strike rolled on 8,000 workers from other factories were made redundant.[3]
Rootes announced its plan to close the plant in July 1966. At that time it was producing commercial vehicle cabs and van body pressings.[4]
british, light, steel, pressings, company, warple, acton, london, producing, bodies, vehicle, industry, blsp, formed, 1930, early, years, made, pressings, various, purposes, 1937, taken, over, rootes, group, make, body, shells, sunbeam, cars, after, world, des. British Light Steel Pressings Ltd was a company at Warple Way Acton London producing bodies for the vehicle industry British Light Steel Pressings Ltd BLSP was formed in 1930 In its early years it made pressings for various purposes In 1937 it was taken over by the Rootes Group to make body shells for Sunbeam cars After World War II despite transfer of production of Sunbeam Talbots from the old London Talbot factory to a new government funded site at Ryton BLSP continued in production In 1948 for example versions of the Sunbeam Talbot 80 and 90 were available with saloon bodywork from BLSP or drophead coupe bodywork by another nearby Rootes company Thrupp amp Maberly 1 During the mid 1950s car bodies produced included the Sunbeam Mk III saloon and convertible Sunbeam Alpine 1953 55 and thereafter the Humber Hawk Super Snipe and Imperial in saloon and estate car versions BLSP Ltd ran a successful apprenticeship scheme covering both professional engineering and trade programmes By the 1960s BLSP had some of the largest presses in Britain and as well as body shells produced a wide range of car and commercial components for the Rootes Group including suspension units petrol tanks and small pressings 2 The Rootes group by this time included Humber Hillman Sunbeam Talbot Singer Commer and Karrier However from the late 1950s the company suffered from industrial unrest which has been cited as the root of problems leading eventually to the takeover of Rootes by Chrysler The first strike of 1 500 workers began when a couple of newly wed night shift workers asked to be transferred to day shift and became known as the Honeymoon Strike A spate of 82 mainly unofficial strikes in 1961 caused the loss of over 27 000 man hours at the BLSP plant which in turn caused the loss of 17 000 man hours at other Rootes plants Finally a strike led to an ultimatum to all 1000 workers to return to work or be sacked A recruitment drive was started to replace striking workers but as the strike rolled on 8 000 workers from other factories were made redundant 3 Rootes announced its plan to close the plant in July 1966 At that time it was producing commercial vehicle cabs and van body pressings 4 References edit Sunbeam Talbot 80 and 90 BLSP Archived 12 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine Industrial Unrest Rootes to close body plant Commercial Motor 8 July 1966 Page 52 nbsp This article about a manufacturing company in the United Kingdom is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte nbsp This article about an industrial corporation or company is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title British Light Steel Pressings amp oldid 1107305320, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
