0 NE of several organizations engaged in collection and delivery
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of cars is Vehicle Clearances Ltd., London. Mr. R. W. Jones, their managing director, suggests that car manufacturers prefer the use of transporters because they preclude new cars being overdriven or, worse, still, damaged in an accident. However carefully car delivery driving staff were vetted, in practice it was impossible to eliminate over-driving completely. Additionally, customers wanted their new cars delivered with little or no mileage on the mileometer.
Started with Plates
Mr. Jones started his business with trade Plates, . and still holds 38— mainly, for use with commercial vehicles and some types of car—but he now operates, in addition, 16 transporters.
. Where cars are delivered by driving, in all Weathers, they must occasionally arrive .dirty and uneconomit labour has to be employed to clean them. This 'hazard is largely removed by the use of car transporters..
Even so, Mr. Jones was not completely satisfied in this respect and is, at present, using a flexible covering on a car transporter consisting of a plastic material supplied by Motomac Ltd., of South Ockendon, Essex. This keeps the cars in showroom condition,
regardless of the weather. It also reduces the possibility of scratching by overhanging branches of trees.
In addition, Mr. Jones is considering the use of a van of the Luton type with expandable sides. The overall dimensions would be large and wind resistance a considerable problem.
Apart from wind resistance, the height of a fully loaded transporter, around 15 ft. 3 in., can present additional problems. The avoidance of low bridges, for example, can increase journey mileage. Thus the mileage
from London to Shrewsbury when delivering a car on plates is 153, but this is increased to 168 when a trans porter is employed. Similarly, the corresponding mileages to Carmarthen are 223 and 237.
All the trailers'operated by Vehicle Clearances are manufactured by Carrimore's, and, in the opinion of Mr. Jones, this particular model provides the complete answer to the operator's problem.
He has visited the Continent in search of ideas for the improvement of transporter services. The Continental operators employ both road and rail transporters, but although Continental regulations concerning the dimensions of vehicles are' not so strict, Mr. Jones does not 'consider their transporter design equal to that of the Carrimqre.
Vital Factor •
On the subject of staff, Mr. Jones emphasized the contribution which drivers make to the success of his company. It is made clear to applicants that a car transporter driver accepts substantial responsibility. This dot only relates to the total value of both the transporter and its load, which may well be £9,000 or more, but also to the absolute necessity of effecting delivery satisfactorily.
Because of this strongly held belief, Mr. Jones would consider no applicant under 38 years of age for the position of car transporter driver. In addition, they must have at least 15 years' satisfactory experience in driving not only heavy goods vehicles but specifically articulated types. .
High responsibility deserves adequate reward, and Mr. Jones pays his drivers well above the minimum requirements laid down by the Road Haulage Wages Council. Payments are made on a time basis, calculated approximately on an average of 22 m.p.h. with an allowance of half an hour for loading or unloading. For instance, for a journey to Lydd airport to collect cars imported from the Continent a driver would be paid £4 6s. for the return trip from London. The hourly rate would be 6s. compared with the normal amount of , around 4s. 3d. In addition a bonus of 10s. would be paid if five vehicles were delivered and a further I Os. if a similar number were collected. Sub-. sistence allowances are paid on the basis of the current R.H.(66). •
Provided an employee has the necessary experience in driving heavy vehicles, it is possible for him; to graduate from delivering cars on trade plates to driving a transporter outfit. Whereas trade-plate drivers may average around £14. to £16 a week, average gross wages for drivers of transporters are more than £20 per week—occasionally £28.
Bonus. Scheme
Vehicle Clearances have recently introduced an accident bonus scheme, Any driver who qualifies for a safe driving .certificate can receive a cash bonus of around £25 at Christmas time. In the past 12 months the company have had only two accidents.
In .addition to the headquarters in Highgate, London, the company have depots at Dover, Dunstable and Rytonon-Dunsmore. At Dover there is a staff of eight, at Dunstable 22 drivers and three office staff. A manager, three clerks and 12 transporter drivers are based at Ryton, as well as 14 drivers who deliver on trade plates, While the trailer fleet is standardized on Carrimore, the tractors are divided between Commer, Leyland Comets and Thames 4-D. Commers prove durable in operation, although the Thames 4-D is found to be more powerful on hills. The Leylands are used for heavier toads.
Fuel consumption is: Commer 15.3 m.p.g., Thames 4-D 13.8 m.p.g. and Leyland Cornet 12.0 m.p.g. India tyres were fitted on the trailers and a mileage life of 104,000 has been obtained, whilst Goodyears fitted to the tractors have also achieved around 100,000. The company are hoping to reach a mileage of 300,000 before engine changes become necessary on the Commers.
The fleet of 16 transporters consists of a similar number of tractors and trailers — no spare trailers are employed. The possibility of interchanging trailers at depots adjacent to car factories has been considered. Two problems, however, have to be overcome if such a system is to operate satisfactorily. Some means must be found to raise the upper deck of the car transporter trailer after it has been loaded with cars, and the trailer must be kept rigid after loading.
In any event, under the present system no substantial delays are being experienced in either loading or unloading. Although half-an-hour is allowed for this purpose in the calcu
lation of wages, it has been known for an experienced driver to load five new cars in 10 minutes.
Vehicles operating from Ryton average 60,000 to 70,000 miles per year, while those based on London, wOrking double shifts, are averaging 400 miles per day or around 100,000 miles per year. In keeping with the ovf:rall policy of balancing import and export traffic, Mr. Jones considers it economic to locate the headquarters