A Link Between Operator and Driver
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New Cetex Scheme Enables a Driver in the Metropolis to Pick Up Instructions Without Referring to His Provincial Headquarters
AN organization by which lorry drivers in London are enabled to receive instructions in connection with picking-up return loads, etc., or to report delays or, in any eventuality, to communicate with a responsible authority, has been developed by Cetex, Ltd., 19, Grosvenor Place, London, S.W.1. It seems to afford possibilities of distinct value to a large number of readers of this paper.
For the past year Cetex, Ltd., has been acting almost in the capacity of confidential secretary to numerous concerns and individuals, providing what might be described as a message agency, For example, messages by telephone, telegraph or cable that arrive after working hours are, by previous arrangement, delivered to the Cetex headquarters, where they may be dealt with immediately, or passed on to the person concerbecl at his private address. In the case of cables, the message may be decoded by Cetex, Ltd., and the necessary steps taken according to instructions.
It is now no uncommon thing to see in the London Telephone Directory, after a private or business entry, a statement to the effect that, if there he no reply, the caller should ring Cetex, Sloane 4554. The service is operated under a licence from the Postmaster General.
Arrangements have recently been made by which provincial haulage contractors may take advantage of this organization for the purposes already outlined, using it almost as if it were their own London office. in general, the scheme is for the operator, fleet owner or transport manager to keep Cetex, Ltd., informed of the tonnage of the vehicles that he is sending to
London day by day, and to notify London clients, from whom he is in the habit of collecting loads, on their part, to send instructions to Cetex, Ltd.
Thus, on arrival in London, the drivers have only to ring up the Cetex offices to learn where to go and what loads to pick up. In this Way time is saved and late instructions, which normally could not be transmitted to a driver, can be received by him practically up to the last minute before his departure from London. He will, however, in many cases, have to collect from the offices of Cetex, Ltd., the necessary papers before proceeding to the point where a load awaits him.
Similarly, the operator himself can place instructions at the Cetex message centre to be passed on to the driver when he rings up. There appear to be many other directions in which the system should prove of value to haulage contractors, and we understand that the service costs no more than El% per year.
To protect subscribers from the risk of messages being sent in their names by competitors, each has a secret number by which his identity can be proved. The number is never divulged and is known only to the. subscriber, his confidential employees, including, of course, his drivers, and the staff of Cetex, Ltd.
In this connection, those who contemplate availing themselves of this new service will be interested to know that the concern has a strong association with road-transport matters. Mr. H. Tilling, who, up to some five years ago, was managing director of Thomas Tilling, Ltd., is a director, and his sou, Mr. Hugh Tilling, is secretary and director.