Ronald Hobson

'''Sir Ronald Frank Hobson''', [[Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order|KCVO]] (4 January 1921 – 22 April 2017) was a British entrepreneur, business-owner and philanthropist.

Hobson was born on 4 January 1921 in [[Edmonton, London|Edmonton]], [[London]], to a poor family. He served in the [[British Army|Army]] during the [[World War II|Second World War]] and, after being [[Demobilization|demobilised]], noticed the potential for bombed-out plots of land in central London to be used as [[Parking lot|car parks]].<ref name="times">[https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/sir-ronald-hobson-obituary-trhbqvnjb "Sir Ronald Hobson"], ''The Times'', 31 May 2017.</ref>

In October 1948,<ref name="times"/> he and [[Donald Gosling]] (then a trainee surveyor at [[Westminster City Council]]) secured planning permission to convert a site in [[Holborn]] into a car park. They each invested £100 and became joint chairmen of Central Car Parks,<ref name="ind">Randeep Ramesh and Michael Harrison, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/bomb-site-likely-lads-make-pounds-580m-fortune-from-sale-of-car-parks-1152070.html "Bomb-site likely lads make pounds 580m fortune from sale of car parks"], ''The Independent'', 24 March 1998. Retrieved 7 June 2019.</ref> charging customers 1[[Shilling (British coin)|s]] 6[[Penny (British pre-decimal coin)|d]] a day. At the time, car traffic was low in [[London]],<ref name="times"/> but car-ownership expanded in the post-war period alongside their business; by the late 1950s, they owned more than ten car parks.<ref name="ind"/> As ''The Independent'' summarised in 1998: "Whether the two knew that the motor-car would become of the cylinders in society's engine or property prices would go sky high is not clear. What is not difficult to say is that the duo's remarkable rise places them among of the best British business-people of their generation."<ref name="ind" /> In 1958, they purchased [[National Car Parks]] (NCP) and it became their focus. In 1984, they also acquired [[Green Flag]], but the 1980s also witnessed growing competition from [[Europarks]],<ref name="times" /> which culminated in a 1993 court case in which an NCP employee was charged with conspiracy to defraud after allegedly using a security firm to spy on Europarks; the employee was acquitted,<ref>David Connett, [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/car-parks-chief-is-cleared-of-spying-on-rival-1497355.html "Car parks chief is cleared of spying on rival"], ''The Independent'', 13 March 1993. Retrieved 7 June 2019.</ref> and NCP eventually acquired the company.<ref name="times" />

In 1998, Hobson and Gosling sold NCP (which had over 650 car parks by that time) to [[Cendant]] for £801 million; they had owned a 72.5% share of the business.<ref name="times" /> The pair were philanthropists, donating £25 million towards the restoration of [[HMS Victory|HMS ''Victory'']]. They paid for [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother]]'s birthday celebrations in 2000, and Hobson had been among a group of businessmen who financially supported [[Harold Wilson]] as opposition leader in the 1970s.<ref name="times" /> He turned down a knighthood in the [[1976 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours|"Lavender List"]] in 1976,<ref name="ind" /> but accepted appointment as a Knight Commander of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] thirty years later.<ref name="times" />

Hobson died on 22 April 2017.<ref name="times"/>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hobson, Ronald}} [[Category:1921 births]] [[Category:2017 deaths]] [[Category:People from Edmonton, London]] [[Category:Businesspeople from the London Borough of Enfield]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]