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Parcels survey
Page 29
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Tread with interest your
annual parcels survey published in Commercial Motor towards the end of each year.
I have a vested interest in this industry and was wondering whether you would be prepared to amend your test for this year slightly, if indeed it is your intention to carry out such a test.
My suggested amendment would be for you to delay your collection request times until, say, 16:00hrs, as in practice many companies leave their requests until that time for urgent deliveries before 12:00hrs the next day.
I would be very interested to see if this substantially affected the quality of the service provided by the chosen carriers.
W Cook, Chester-Le-Street.
Good idea, Mr Cook, but our features editor fears that as all the parcels in our survey have to he collected from the same place, the operators concerned might guess what was going on if they all turned up to collect identical parcels at the same time!—Ed.
Agency code
With reference to your quite fair and reasonable article on the subject of agency drivers (CM 5-11October) I would draw your attention to the FRES/MA Code of Practice for Agency Drivers. You can obtain copies of this from RHA or FRES itself.
It is perhaps unfortunate that the existence of this jointly arranged code was not highlighted by your issue. These matters have been considered by both sides of the trade in some depth over the past few years and the Code of Practice issued was the result of a close look at the operation of such drivers.
It gives very good practical advice to both the driver agency and the operator, and some publicity from yourselves would have been a useful boost to what is undoubtedly an operational problem to some people. J Coates,
HGV Services, Leiceste):
A4 memories
T wonder if I can ask CM -treaders for help with a project which I am undertaking.
I am gathering together information about the past 100 years of the A4 London to Bristol road with a view to writing a book about the industries, transport and communities around the road. I am therefore anxious to trace drivers and managers who may have even the smallest of fragments of what is turning out to be a fascinating and colourful jigsaw
From drivers I am seeking first-hand recollections of the road, lorries, peopie, cafes and the firms involved along the A4 over the years. From managers I am seeking to find out the flows of goods and the importance of the various industries.
In fact just about any recollection, however small or remote, would be of use to me.
Leo Markham 54 Baywood Avenue, West Cross, Swansea, SA3 5LW.
Commercial Motor
welcomes readers' letters, which can be phoned in on 0181-652 3689 (24-hour service) or faxed on 0181652 8969. They may be edited for length and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor.