Leyland Rover

'Leyland Rover' is an account of Ken Ryeland’s several tours of the Far East as a service engineer for British Leyland during the early 1970s. After serving an engineering apprenticeship and several years working in Nigeria, Ryeland and his family returned to the UK, where he joined the Rover Company at Solihull. His task was to audit the company’s UK distributor network, checking the quality of service offered to car and Land-Rover customers. Twelve months later he joined Rover/Triumph’s overseas service department and further reorganisations under the British Leyland International banner added Jaguar and Austin/Morris vehicles to his responsibilities. Ryeland’s apprenticeship, previous overseas experience and thorough knowledge of the products paid dividends, enabling him to ensure that Leyland’s Far East distributors conformed to all operational and engineering standards. Not easy when strikes, poor build quality, indiscriminate sales policies and sheer bloody-mindedness conspired to frustrate his efforts; and that was just the UK side of the business. The culture and different working practices in the various countries presented even greater challenges for Ryeland. Held hostage by the military in Malaysia; interrogated by police in Afghanistan; hospitalised in Thailand and summoned by the king in Nepal; just a few of the trials and tribulations faced by Ryeland when attending his ‘patch’.