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CM’s top tips to ensure your company is a winner when making deliveries in London during the Olympic Games
Words: Chris Druce
IN TWO MONTHS’ time, the opening ceremony for London 2012 will be under way at the Olympic Stadium. However, with the media centre opening, the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and soft opening of the Olympic Village scheduled for next month, it really is all systems go as the UK attempts to deliver the world’s greatest sports event and meet its biggest logistical challenge.
While Team GB will be going for glory, it’s the road transport industry that will be the unsung hero, delivering Olympic merchandise to retailers, and food and drink to pubs and restaurants throughout the Olympics (28 July – 12 August) and Paralympics (30 August – 9 September) to keep tourists fed and watered.
To help you meet the herculean task ahead, CM presents 10 tips for delivering during the Games period, which could bring your business a legacy that lasts long after the Olympic Torch starts its journey to Rio de Janeiro.
It’s good to talk
You need to gauge the likely volumes, peaks and dips your customers are anticipating during the Olympic period to enable you to prepare your resources accordingly. Ask what their strategy is for the Games period, and explain the delivery restrictions you face.
Can you deliver larger volumes than normal in advance? Will deliveries go to the usual delivery points, or is their an alternative delivery point away from the Olympic Route Network (which you can only deliver to from midnight to 6am)?
Assess how it’s going
The Olympic period is a marathon rather than a sprint, so once it’s under way you need to have a reporting structure in place to assess whether all your careful planning is paying off.
Update your customers and employees, and make sure you have an Olympic champion in place to act as a co-ordinator and point of contact across your organisation for feedback from drivers and customers alike.
Set in place periodic reviews during the Games period. At an operational level, this could be once or more per day, with a weekly review meeting for management.
Check your O-licence
See if there are any restrictions. A fast-track O-licence process has been introduced for the Games period only to allow operators to seize any lastminute commercial opportunities that present themselves.
Fast-track applications will go straight to traffic commissioner and Olympic lead Sarah Bell, side-stepping the standard requirement to inform residents and the local council about licence variations.
However, you most be able to show that it’s a last resort, and that you’ve already checked if there are any existing limitations preventing you using alternative arrangements during the Olympics, such as delivering at night. If so, you’re still expected to follow existing procedures around variations. Full details at www.dft.gov.uk/publications/trafficcommissioners-olympic-planning/ Order CM’s Games guides Our eight-page Summer 2012 Action Plan details the practical steps you need to succeed, while our Events Schedule lists exactly what’s happening where and when by date and venue. Priced at £12.99 each (or £20 for both) you can find out more at www.commercialmotor.com/summer2012, contact Suzy Bull on 020 8912 2144 or email suzy.bull@ roadtransport.com to place an order.
It’s not just a London thing
The Torch relay will be under way as you read this, having begun at Land’s End on Saturday 19 May. The “moving road block” will take 70 days to travel around the UK and there will be various art and cultural events hosted to mark its passage. There is a UK-wide football programme as part of the Olympics, and water sport and sailing locations Eton Dorney, Weymouth and Portland will be congestion hotspots as both are constrained by their geography. Details of the Olympic route network outside of London can be found at www.london2012.com/orn/where-will-the-ornandprn-operate.php For the 22 live screening locations, check out www.london2012.com/livesites while the Torch Relay’s progress can be tracked at london2012.com/ torch-relay/route
Deliver out of hours
It won’t be suitable or manageable for all, but TfL commissioner Peter Hendy has fought long and hard to get London’s councils to agree an increase in nighttime deliveries. With severe restrictions in operation on the Olympic and Paralympic route networks throughout the Games, it’s something to consider.
A full list of contacts at the various boroughs can be found at www.tfl.gov. uk/2012outofhoursdeliveries, as can TfL’s Code of Conduct.
The code contains straightforward advice and practical tips on delivering in the small hours without upsetting local residents or councils.
It’s not a lorry ban, but:
The London Lorry Control Scheme, applicable to vehicles over 18-tonne GVW will not be suspended during the Games. Check your permitted route is still available at www.londonlorrycontrol.com (there’s now an online planner available to use for a small fee).
A special Games period permission is available for hauliers taking on extra work that will just need to access the capital during the summer. ■