David Iain Maclean was born in 1951. He became a Signalling & Telecommunications Technical Assistant (Radio) at York in 1968. He then served as Resident Engineer at Sheffield, Scunthorpe, and Tyne Yard during the 1970s. He was appointed as a Regional Fibre Optic Cable Manager in 1986 and in 1988 he became Divisional Telecoms Manager on British Rail: Anglia Region. In 1994 he joined British Rail Telecommunications in the London area, Liverpool Street and Stanstead and was subsequently involved in cable contracts for Racal (the company who bought British Rail Telecommunications) in 1996.