The company was established in 1948 as
British Road Services (BRS). It was the road transport company formed by the
nationalisation of Britain's road haulage industry, under the
British Transport Commission, as a result of the
Transport Act 1947. From 1963, the company was administered by the
Transport Holding Company and had four main operating areas: British Road Services, BRS Parcels,
Pickfords and Containerway & Roadferry. On 1 January 1969, it was renamed the National Freight Corporation. On the same date a 51% share in
Freightliner was transferred from the
British Railways Board (BRB). This was transferred back to the BRB on 1 August 1978. In 1980, the assets of the National Freight Corporation were transferred to the National Freight Company. In 1982, the company was sold to its employees as the
National Freight Consortium in one of the first
privatisations of
state-owned industry. The new company was first listed on the
London Stock Exchange in 1989 and subsequently became
NFC plc. BRS Parcels was rebranded as
Roadline and was sold in a
management buy-out as
Lynx Express in 1997. In 2000, NFC plc merged with
Ocean Group plc to form
Exel plc. ==References==