PCP - Adrian Meyer
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NAME: Adrian Meyer     D.O.B: 19th June 1951     EMAIL: adrian@acheta.freeserve.co.uk            The Interview:         Please describe your professional background.   I graduated from Durham University in 1973 with a Masters Degree in Ecology and Population Dynamics. I was particularly interested in the mechanisms influencing wild mammal populations, but wanted desperately to work in a practical job which brought me into contact with the real world and real problems! I managed to find just the job I was looking for and joined the London Pests Unit as the Vertebrate Pest Adviser in 1974. My job was to advise the Greater London Boroughs on all aspects of their pest control operations and in addition to help run a small team of technicians who were responsible for undertaking all the pest control in all government owned properties in Greater London. These included Buckingham Palace, No 10 Downing Street, the London Prisons and many additional premises. A practical job by any stretch of the imagination. I have tried ever since to combine science with the practical, it is the only way to make progress. In 1980 I moved to the Sw of SW of England as the vertebrate pest adviser to the Ministry of Agricultures ADAS. Over the following years I headed the Wildlife Department in the Ministry of Agricultures SE Region and then in moved to the Central Science Laboratory at Slough for six years in 1990. Finally I set up Acheta with Mike Kelly in 1995! During this time I have travelled widely as a part of my work to many parts of the world and have published a wide range of scientific papers. I can safely say that I have enjoyed every single minute - well almost!!!         How did you first come to be involved in pest control?   Simply because I am fascinated by the ways in which wild animal populations work - both vertebrate and invertebrate. I find it fascinating to see what millions of years of evolution have done and the answers that have been developed to enable survival. We have so much to learn from understanding the mechanisms that have been developed in animal populations to enhance survival. The more I observe these mechanisms the more I realise that we have so much yet to learn about our own survival! No wonder they so often stay one step ahead.         What is your favourite aspect of the pest control industry?   Meeting people and trouble shooting! What a fascinating career I have had and perhaps the most enjoyable aspect has been the almost inexhaustible supply of interesting people that I have met and continue to meet. We seem to attract the interesting rather than the boring - well almost always! As for trouble shooting, it is the challenge of identifying and applying a solution to a problem that seems to have been causing problems for others. In addition I fear that I am addicted to travel and find some of the greatest challenges on other shores! Where I also have to say they also have more immediate and demanding problems due to the lack of resources that we take for granted.         Least favourite aspect of the pest control industry?   Filling in my VAT return!! No seriously, probably the travelling on British Roads at present, the delays become worse!         What is the biggest challenge you have faced in your career?   There have been many individual challenges, but perhaps the biggest, and it is one that continues to this day is to firstly convince central government that they ignore pest control at their peril and do not serve the British people well by pretending that problems do not exist. Secondly to convince customers of pest control services that if they want a good service they have to pay for it! Good pest control cannot be undertaken cheaply, nor in the Dark!         What advice would you give to anyone thinking of a career in pest control?   Start at the bottom - There is absolutely nothing as valuable in this industry as practical experience. Combine this experience with good and enquiring science and there is the makings of an interesting career.         What motivates and drives you?   To be good at what I do!         Do you have any remaining or unfulfilled ambitions? What are they?   Yes many! Perhaps the best way of summarising them is to say that there are many challenges in pest control and I want to be involved with as many of them as I possibly can.         Has the industry changed much during your career? How?   Yes! Firstly we are now so much more concerned with safety than we were - and quite rightly. Although I fear that in some cases now the balance has gone too far - it would take a long time to explain! Secondly, we all have less time to do a good job and I regret the current lack of understanding amongst those who govern local and national policy in relation to pest control activities. They need educating!         Describe an amusing pest control anecdote.   So many. But one that sticks in my mind is the occasion when I was responsible for pest control at No 10 Downing Street and emerged through the front door after a visit, red carry-all in hand (containing mouse control equipment), to be faced by a barrage of tourists taking photographs of someone they probably though was key to British Government. I strutted down Downing Street feeling very pleased with myself, just as you see them doing now on TV. In those days members of the public were allowed all the way down to the end - anybody remember? I tried to make sure that visits to No 10 were undertaken when there were plenty of tourists around. Well if you can't mange Prime Minister, why not?
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