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15,000 P.O. Vehicles Next Year
Page 115
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1.)vehicles in the Post Office fleet will Cap t. A. Hudson, Chief upp Y March, 1938, the number of motor
probably have reached 15,000, stated Capt. A. Hudson, 0.B.E., M.I.A.E., chief motor transport officer to the G.P.O., at a meeting of the Leeds and District section of the Institute , of Transport, last Friday.
Capt. Hudson remarked that no single activity of the Post Office had experienced such phenomenal development during the. past 16 years as had its road-transport fleet, which, from some 50 vehicles in the early part of 1919,had grown to over 13,000. It was.generallytrue to say that the more transport there was required, the higher the cost of the goods to the customer, but, so far as the Post Office was concerned, each motor vehicle intreduced lessened the cost of the services rendered—whether in respect of mails .or _telephones.
Every Motor Means a Saving.
The development of the Post Office fleet had not been a haphazard use of transport merely for the sake of motorization. Every vehicle placed on the road carried with it a financial saying, wellas its contribution to the im provement of facilities.
Giving-of the fleet, Capt. Hudson --Pointed out that the Vehicles used . on mail s'ervices • comprised only about 51. per cent, of the fleet, whith, on December 31, comprised the following vehicleS.:7-6,710. on mail servkes, , 6,022 on telephone and telegraph con.struction ' an maintenance, 59 employed by the-stores department, and 258 on telegraph delivery. work.
Illustrating the widespread distribution of the mail vans, Capt. Hudson said that there Were-21 in the Orkney :Islands' and 15on the Isle of Lewis, and .there were some on "even the very mll ,Scottish western islands here the only Means. for _supplying, .petrol was by a riming-haat Rom the•n-iiin
. • • • . y ; '
serViceshad, been -institutedba -fake 1 greater-advantage of railway services. . serViceshad, been -institutedba -fake 1 greater-advantage of railway services. .
Letter Deliveries Accelerated. • .
Inter-communicating toad servic,es between one line of railway and another had short-circuited journeys of letters and given the public the benefit of the time saved. The range of rapid operation -fni motors had also made possible the .closing of minor sorting offices and concentration of the work on larger offices or main sorting centres, resulting in better public service and savings in staff cOsts.
Experience in -the matter of parcels delivery had proved it to be more economical to employ small, 'rather than . large, yaps, although greater numbers had to be used, and 75 per cent. of the postal vans were below 1-ton capacity, The latest innovation on the postal side was a motor vehicle in the form of a mobile post office.
One of these vehicles was likely to be stationed at Southampton Docks to supplement the existing facilities,. for the purpose of coping with the business of liner passengers.
Describing the vehicles used on the engineering side, Capt. Hudson said that one group comprised " utility" vans, of 1-ton or 30-cwt. capacity. This type, more or less a workshop on wheels, carried the men, as well as the material, for the work in hand. The driver was an engineering workman, and, when not actually driving, worked with the gang. ,
The second group comprised generalservice vehicles of 12-cwt. to 3-ton capacity. These vehicles were mainly': carriers and some were fitted with power •winches, by means of, which . cable could. be mechanically drawn through ducts, instead of being pulled
through by a gang of men. .
Arranged for Trailer Operation. Both the storei-carrying Vans and the utility type could be fitted with devices for trailing toolcarts, or trailers fitted with pumps.
A third group. comprised motorcycle cembinations and " baby" vans, 'which were used by maintenance men opera.
ting either singly or in pairs.. . Observation -of 'overhead :telephone . and telegraph lines had, been made; easier by the provision of a van with -;•• a cab having a sloping panel Of ipeciaL . glass, which negatived the glare of the sun. Among other vehicles Were a few 12-15-ton cable tractors, andlarger lorries .up to. 10-;toriners,: used .by: the
stiles depthtment.
Describing the fleet-maintenance organization, Capt. Hudson said that the : whole of : Great Britain and Northern.Ireland was divided into nine areas, each a self-contained s working_ unit under the control of an area officer, and , each containing about 1,300 vehicles. For servicing and repair purposes there were about 250 workshops spread over the country.
These workshops varied in size from those where only 13 or 14 vehicles might be maintained to establishments in cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow, where the number of vehicles maintained might be as high as 300. Every workshop was responsible for the complete maintenance, including overhauls, of all vehicles under 30-cwt. capacity, but specialist work was effected either at the Post Office's own larger workshops.
or put out to contract. Running repairs to the 30-cwt. vehicles were also carried out, but the overhaul of these vehicles was cenfined to two or three shops in each a`fea.
Giving details of the Post Office's costing system for ascertaining the total expense, whether direct or indirect, of maintaining existing types of vehicle, and for estimating' accurately the cost of proposed new services, Capt. Hudson said thatfrom the workshops— each a separate costing unit—came the basicinformation as regards material and labour. From this • datum and from-information from the users of the vehicles as to mileage, petrol issues and other items, the area officer compiled the operating costs of postal and engineering vehicles in each workshopcosting group within his own area.
Comprehensive Cost Records.
By summarizing the costs of each type of vehicle in each workshop centre, a figure showing the area cost of each type was obtained. Area officers forwarded their quarterly costings to headquarters, where they were summarized on a national basis: The final summary prepared at the end of . each year showed, in :the first part, the operating costs in respect of each type of vehicle, and, in the. Second part, the ' administrative costs of the mechanical
transport system. , , , . ,
Capt. 1-.Indsort gaVe comparative figures shnwi,ng that whilst the tendency of Maintenance costs had been to decline steadily, there had been an increase in _the average annual mileage per vehicle and an increase in life. Touching on the question of acci-. dents, the speaker Said:that a detailed Mcord and analysis of all acbidents in which PostOffice vehicles were -InvolVed -showed that,: Wareas in' 1932 the proportion of accidents•-.to mileage was one to,20.-00.0,:,in:1935„ despite the. general increase ofreetot.trafficTon the , the preportion was, one to .25,43,40—a -decrease of 28 per cent: steadyin-g effect which membership Of the Safety FiEst movernent had upon drlieracould 'not he reduced to StatiAtical tables, but undoubtedly it had had excellent results.
• P.O.-Liability, in Accidents.
. Incidentally, the speaker mentioned that, contrary to an idea Which still persisted in some' quarters, claims in resPect of damage and personal injury through motor accidents were met by the Post Office as by an ordinary em ployer. In this respect, it did not derive any privileged position from the Crown.
So far as the training of drivers was concerned, Capt. Hudson pointed out that: ,,they were recruited'from exist
ing staff. In the postal service the duty of driver and postman was combined, and there were now about 11,000 postmen-drivers