From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter from Paris to Derby concerning the incorrect handling of customs formalities for returning a test car to England.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 71\4\ scan0082 | |
| Date | 25th March 1925 | |
| To: "Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}", DERBY. PARIS HK{Col. T. Harker - Sales}24/Dn25.3.25 re 98-NK. We understood from your Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}5/LG19.3.25 that you would be sending the above car back to England, and get over 93-NK at the end of this month via Boulogne, both operations to take place at the same time so that the driver of 98-NK could drive back the 93-NK to Chateauroux. We, therefore, at your request, started to make all the necessary arrangements so that the transactions should be carried out quite smoothly, but to our great surprise our transport Agents rang us up today on receipt of our letter in this connection, to inform us that the 93-NK was returned to England a few days ago, although the touring acquit had not yet been cleared! I am quite certain that you do not realise the importance of acting with the greatest caution in these matters. We are in close touch with these operations, and are only too pleased to assist you in all the formalities necessary to get test cars over here, but we must insist most emphatically, in cases where it is necessary for a car to be returned to England, on this being done through us, and not directly by your people from Chateauroux. The question of these formalities being properly attended to, is of so much importance that should an irregularity be committed, it could quite easily affect the whole question of the importation of our cars into France, and this point is doubly important today when all custom house regulations respecting the importation of cars are being looked into most carefully with a view to future modifications. You have already placed us in a most awkward position by having acted without advising us, and it will take all our tact and influence to smooth this matter out, and I think a hard and fast rule should be laid down once and for all, that no test cars should be sent to, or from France except through us. I quite realise that you may not want the cars in question to be seen at this Dépôt, and it is quite unnecessary that they come within 100 miles of our premises, but what I wish to impress upon you is the necessity of letting us handle all negotiations in connection with the transportation formalities in order to avoid any unpleasant incidents. HK.{Col. T. Harker - Sales} | ||