I N a young industry like road transport changes are taking
Page 67
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
place all the time. Roads arc improved and vehicles redesigned, but there are some problems that have been with the industry for many years. One of these problems is the question of providing suitable accommodation for not only the driver, but the laden commercial vehicle too.
There are now many well-established places providing suitable sleeping accommodation and other necessities for drivers, but drivers using these facilities, particularly in the Metropolitan Police district, have not had any secure place where they could garage their laden commercial vehicle for the night. Many commercial vehicles laden with valuable cargoes are stolen or pilfered during the night when they are left unattended in the streets. This has resulted in insurers for the goods-in-transit risk inserting clauses in their policies withdrawing cover from laden vehicles left unattended within 20 miles of Charing Cross.
This position caused considerable difficulty for the long-distance operator who, in the aSt, had allowed his driver to park in a street near to the place where he was staying for the night. Apart from the security risk, leaving heavy goods vehicles outside private residences at night interferes with the amenities and has led to organized opposition to this indiscriminate parking. It tends to change the public image of the lorry driver. It will be recalled that for some years only kind things were said about lorry drivers, with particular reference to their driving ability, but nowadays with many complaints about black smoke and the increase of indis, criminate parking in residential areas the public viewpoint has tended to change, and this change in public thinking is really most noticeable.
Although local authorities, in parti cular the London County Council, have been studying the question of commercial vehicle parking facilities they have not taken any tangible action. Last July, National Car Parks Ltd. agreed to undertake an experiment and provide secure lorry parks around the centre of the metropolis. The experiment was an endeavour to find out whether this type of facility was a commercial proposition.
There are now five lorry parks operated by this company alone which can provide secure accommodation for up to '1,500 lorries every night for a charge of 5s. a night. Nevertheless it is most disappointing after so much effort has been put into this matter that the lorry parks are not being utilized to the extent that they should be. It is difficult to understand why, in the interests of improving local amenities and prevention of crime, no real effort is made to get the lorries from the streets into the lorry parks.
There is an exception. The police in the Tooley Street area of south-east London decided to assist and the men on the beat have been persuading lorry drivers to take their vehicles to the local secure lorry parks and provision is made to take the drivers by small bus to their sleeping accommodation.
The effect of this police move on crime prevention is remarkable. In August, 1961, six laden vehicles were stolen from this area, four of the loads being worth more than £500. In August, 1962, only two were stolen and only one of the loads was worth more than £500. There are similar figures for the month of September. In 1961, nine laden vehicles were stolen, all having cargoes worth
more than £500. In September. 1962, only two vehicles were stolen. These figures have to be considered against the background of the large number of --vehicles that are stolen in a year in the Metropolitan area. The number of corn
mercial vehicles stolen each year in the Metropolitan Police district is 'approxi mately 5,000 and the value million.
On the face of it there appears to be everything in favour of secure lorry parks and nothing against them, provided they are used properly. The situation calls for co-operation between the operator, his driver, the police and the providers of lorry parks.
The operators of the lorry parks are doing everything possible to improve the facilities they offer. All the parks are on the telephone, with facilities for drivers to make calls, and operators can leave messages for theip drivers. The night security arrangements are in the hands of specialists in this type of work and provide not only alert patrolmen, but sometimes trained dogs. too. All the lorry parks are in close contact with the Metropolitan Police and are visited frequently by patrolling police cars.
Two new Moves are shortly to be introduced in an endeavour to encourage the fuller use of these facilities. Accommodation is going to be provided for a considerable number of drivers on the site of the Aldgate High Street lorry park. The other rather nOvel development is the supplying to commercial vehicle operators of books of lorry parking tickets so that the operator can give his driver a book of these two-part tickets and know that when his vehicle is in the Metropolitan area facilities will be available for the safe custody of his vehicle and load.
The two-part ticket consists of part A which is handed in at the lorry park on arrival and part B which is retained in the book showing the date the vehicle was parked and the time in and time out. A special introductory offer is a book of five 5s. tickets for £1. Books of tickets may be obtained from National Car Parks Ltd., 26 Queensway, London, W.2.