In August 1946 BRITISH SAROZAL LTD (BSL) was incorporated as an export distributor for General Motors Lease-Lend vehicles and ancillary equipment, which remained in the U.K. after the war.

The company grew rapidly and from 1949 concentrated on marketing communications and radar equipment to buyers outside the U.K.

As equipment then in service required overhaul and test, BRITISH SAROZAL first used sub-contractors who had the suitable facilities, then (in 1950) acquired a factory in Peckham, where the equipments were reconditioned and tested to Government standard.

When the BSL organization obtained Government approval, a series of Government contracts followed, among others for modifications and upgrade of American airborne radars ( APS - 4, APS - 6, SCR728 etc.)

The company soon decided to develop and manufacture its own transmitting equipment for broadcast ( MF and HF ) and communications.

REPRINT OF A SECTION OF A 1959 CATALOG OF BROADCAST AND COMMUNICATIONS TRANSMITTERS

Since 1959 (when this catalog was published) the Company passed trough a period of a continuous growth. This was due primarily to a unique feature of BSL transmitters which was particularly important to broadcasters, namely uninterrupted service during transmissions ( in case of breakdown and during maintenance the transmitters could still operate on half power. )

The Crown Agents have installed a large number of BSL transmitters - as Government stations - in various territories, including islands along the Eastern Seaboard of U.S.A.

British Sarozal supplied the transmitters to various governments and broadcast corporations in the Middle and Far East as well as Africa.

However, the most important market for broadcast transmitters - Latin America - with it's hundreds of commercial broadcast stations and a big demand for BSL transmitters because of their feature of uninterrupted service and very competitive price, was closed to British Sarozal. The reason: The broadcasters in these countries were supplied by American manufacturers on long-term credit spread over a period of 5 years and guaranteed by the American Government. The British Export Credit Guarantee Department would not provide at that time a guarantee for longer than 1 year and even then only to the extent of 80% of the sum involved.

Several attempts were made to outsmart American competition and finally BSL managed to reach a mutually profitable agreement with a Latin American consortium in Miami for the supply of 50 broadcast transmitting stations for which the consortium secured orders.

The year was 1969. The factory was closed for annual holidays and the directors were in Florida for the signature of the contract.

By an unfortunate twist of fate one hour before the meeting, information reached the directors that the factory was destroyed by fire.

The Company was under-insured and received only 6 months later a modest compensation in an out-of-court settlement

Luckily the spare parts for the transmitters and large stocks of active components ( transmitting and microwave tubes, semiconductors, etc. ) were not affected as they were stored in several depots outside London. The Company could continue to supply spare parts for the transmitters and ancillary equipments and afterwards for equipments made by other manufacturers.

A special EXPRESS SERVICE Division was formed for dealing with urgent requirements for immediate or rapid delivery primarily for electronic equipments at airports.

This idea of an EXPRESS SERVICE proved extremely successful and in 1977 the division was transformed into a separate entity: BSL EXPRESS SERVICE LTD INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC SUPPLY SERVICE.

July 1969 The factory was completely destroyed as a result of the fire. Investigation has shown that the GLC ( Greater London Council ) gave instructions to a City demolition firm to pull down a building adjoining the factory but forgot to supply them the plans of the area to be demolished.

The demolition team broke through the wall leading to the store area of the factory and found a number of large modulation and power transformers for the 5 and 10kW transmitters delivered just before the factory closed for holidays. They called in the local scrap dealers who were members of the famous Richardson gang of South-East London and gave them a free hand. The scrap dealers entered the factory, broke down the export cases containing the transmitters which were ready for shipment and removed all the precious metals in the factory, copper etc. from the transmitters, sub-assemblies and ancillary equipment.

All day on Saturday and Sunday lorry loads of materials were carried out and apparently the police had no knowledge of what was going on.

The entrance to the factory was left open and Sunday night the youngsters of the district started playing inside and burning the empty cases from which the equipment was removed.

The factory building was old and because of the very thick walls the flames became visible only the following day. The demolition company used as an excuse the fact that they had not received from the GLC drawings or plans and thought that the BSL factory was part of the area to be demolished.

Proceedings were issued against the GLC but the claim was settled out of court.