In 1961, he entered HM Civil Service, working in the Ministry of Transport and, from 1962 in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and its successor the Department of the Environment.
He was promoted to Deputy Secretary in 1974, moving in 1977 to the Ministry of Transport.
[2][3] For his service, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1974 Birthday Honours[4] and was promoted to Knight Companion in the 1982 Birthday Honours.
[5] After leaving, he sat on the British Waterways Board and chaired several limited companies.
[1] His brother was John Richard Poulton Hughes, DL (1920–2006), the county clerk and chief executive of Staffordshire County Council from 1978 to 1983.