Small Vans as Personnel Carriers
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INCE the war, the small passenger vehicle has staged a revival. As a ich it is a valuable adjunct to any vate-hire fleet or for use in areas ere roads are narrow. In less pretious form, it is popular with cornrcial undertakings for carrying ployees, such as railwaymen and air ws, and with local authorities for nsporting hospital out-patients and iens.
[he personnel, carrier is usually conled from a standard van. A ease in 'tit is a Commer 12-seater which ggins Garage, Ltd., Norton Road, ■ ckton-on-Tees, have supplied to rham County Council for the use of Lambton Castle College for Adult ucation. The basis of the vehicle a Superpoise 25-cwt. van which ixtons (Scarborough), Ltd., converted. lix passengers are accommodated on h side on padded tip-up seats. The mmer rear doors are retained, but to ilitate entry and exit a folding step been fitted. It folds up inside the
rear doors to form a cover for the spare-wheel compartment, at the same time _providing a mounting for the rear number plate.
Comfort is enhanced by the use of Girling telescopic shock absorbers all round and by the installation of a Smith's 4 kW heater. Appearance is improved by a chromium-plated front bumper.
" The final result is a useful dualpurpose vehicle at very moderate cost," Mr. B. D. Wiggins, B.Se.(Eng.), A.M.I.R.T.E., a director of Wiggins Garage, told The Commercial Motor.
Another useful conversion has been made of a Bedford 12-cwt. van by Levers Garages, Ltd., Longcauseway, Farnworth, near Bolton, on behalf of the East Riding Motor Co., Ltd., Alexandra Garage, Bridlington.
The vehicle accommodates 14 passengers, some on longitudinal tip-up seats attached to the sides of the vehicle. one on an occasional seat facing to the rear, and others on a bench seat beside the driver. The seat legs fold neatly out of the way when the vehicle is required for the transport of goods. The double rear doors provide for easy entry and exit, and the floor is low enough to avoid the need for a step.
The vehicle has been supplied to T. A. Hebden and Co., Ltd., Bridlington.