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CHRIS Hanson-Abbott, has been awarded an OBE

You know that unmistakeable sound of a reversing “beep” on vehicles........ Guess who invented it? A Haileyburian, of course! CHRIS Hanson-Abbott, chairman of Brigade Electronics, has been awarded an OBE for his services to vehicle road safety in The Queen’s 2014 Birthday Honours list.

Christopher is 80 this year and has more energy than most people half his age. His final school report on leaving Haileybury in 1952 read “there is clearly plenty of character here.....” and went on to say that he could do better if he tried harder. A self-confessed below-average all-rounder, he excelled only at rifle-shooting, comic opera and the ukulele. His school-leaving impersonation of George Formby singing “When I’m Cleaning Winders” is said to have brought the house down.

Sandhurst and four years military service with the Royal Artillery and the Parachute Regiment were followed by a job as a porter with the Army and Navy Stores (which included dusting tins of peaches and sieving raisins for maggots) whilst attending interviews for other positions. Following a chance encounter with OH Neil Freeland (C46) whilst walking down Bishopsgate in 1956 which Christopher says “changed his life forever” he began a twenty year membership of The Baltic Exchange as a shipbroker. He became an expert on Japanese business following two expatriate spells in Tokyo during the 1960s.  A Damascene conversion occurred on a Tokyo street in 1976 due to a strange beeping sound emitting from  a small truck reversing towards him. 

Christopher promptly quit shipping.  A long search found him at a small family business in the North Japan mountains making ignition parts for Japanese car makers. The founder patriarch had recently dreamed up the world’s first reversing alarm, a simple buzzer which beeped when reverse gear was engaged and which was still under evaluation on the small truck in Tokyo.  By now overwhelmed by the beeper’s uniqueness, its simplicity and its obvious necessity he negotiated a 12-months UK trial agency and returned home with a product which nobody had ever heard of, for which there was no demand, in an industry he knew not.    Lucky enough to meet on the flight a stunning lady with a family business making cylinder liners,  he shortly found himself at the desk of the president of The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT), the industry trade body, with a hastily arranged membership and a demonstration at the forthcoming 1976 Commercial Motor Show at Earls Court. 

Interest was fulsome but it took two years and 40,000 miles of motoring for his first firm order – for six reversing alarms.  Such is novelty with its buyer reluctance to be the early adopter.   Persistence finally paid off however and the trickle became a flood much helped by the 1974 passage of the Health & Safety at Work Act. Chris built up the fledgling Brigade Electronics to a headcount of twelve in an office in Blackheath, SE London.  Brought to market following the first ever range of reversing beepers were the first radar and ultra-sonic reversing aids plus the first camera monitor system for driver rear-vision.  These were soon followed by the first real-speech reverse warning, the first wide-angle rear-view “Fresnel” lens for buses and motor homes, the first broadband sound reversing alarm and, recently, the first 360-deg. birds-eye view camera/monitor system.

Christopher is a natural entrepreneur and pioneer.  It defies belief  that,  until he launched his one -man crusade in 1976 to eradicate a quarter of all motoring fatalities,  there was absolutely nothing available to assist a driver to reverse safely nor to warn the unseen pedestrian behind a vehicle that it was being driven blindly.   And he was from outside the industry! One of his UK promotional ventures in the late 1980s was to form The National Reverse-in-Safety Campaign.  With Sir Stirling Moss (L43) as its President plus a former Government Transport Minister and the Association of Chief Constables, much credit was due to the NRSC for the rapid growth of reversing hazard awareness.

Christopher’s passion and dedication to the cause of reversing safety is impressive.  Thirty-eight years on Brigade Electronics now have offices all round the globe promoting safe vehicle movement with a sales turnover of £20m in 2013 with a balance-sheet free of debt.   North & South America, South Africa, Australia & New Zealand, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and all over the EU the Brigade flag flies.  Exports now comprise almost three quarters of Brigade’s sales.   At eighty years old Christopher still works a full week, determined until he drops to save lives from vehicle hazards by any way possible. A modest man, to be labelled the world pioneer of reversing safety would embarrass him, but that is what he is.  It is a credit to this individual that he has remained steadfast to the cause of reversing safety over so many years and it is beyond doubt that he has made a real difference in life-saving terms.   He has done this without a penny of public funds, financing his campaign organically, step-by-step, only spending money when his cash-flow permits.  It has been a remarkable achievement for the common good - Christopher’s continuing vision, passion and drive are inspirational; he is a wonderful example of a Haileyburian with a strong service ethic. Whenever asked what business he’s in he replies simply “Saving lives”.  That says it all.

For more information please visit www.brigade-electronics.com

 

Originally Written: 03-Dec-2014 11:24, Last Updated: 03-Dec-2014 11:28