• Home
• Used vehicles
• Product news
• Dealer news
• Compliance
• Buying advice
• Archive

Keen Rivalr or Bristol's Meat

By A. E. Sherlock-Mesher

MEAT haulage in Bristol is, according to a man of wide experience of the trade, more highly competitive than in almost any other town in Britain. Hauliers are competing not only among themselves, but with the C-licence transport of wholesale and retail butchers. Five of the wholesalers have substantial fleets and there is a tendency for the large multiple retailers to make greater use of their own vehicles.

In addition, hauliers from outside Bristol come in to collect meat, for the city is a centre of distribution for a wide area. It regularly supplies the Midlands, about 75 miles away, as well as London and the north, Eighty per cent. of the imported meat entering the port and all meat killed in the two municipal abattoirs in the city is distributed by road.

Butchers' orders for the week are usually placed on Monday, with the result that the carrier serving shops has virtually a three-day week--from Monday to Wednesday—and some must fill in with other suitable traffic, such as tinned food, biscuits and chocolate. As one operator told me, transport man cannot live by meat alone. The demands of the trade also involve much expensive week-end work, which must be reflected in rates.

Meat and refrigerated produce, such as butter, are among the principal commodities handled at the Port of Bristol (Britain's fifth port on the value of sterling imports), and last year road vehicles carried away some 40,000 tons of them, as compared with 8,775 tons by rail. Most of the meat comes from New Zealand and Australia, with some from South America and Canada. Ships with meat arrive at an average rate of two to three a month and take One of Forsey's Bedford 4-5-ton vans takes on a load at Weston-superMare abattoir for delivery in the Wells and Glastonbury area.

about three days to unload.

There are fine cold-store facilities at the port for 3,000 tons of meat. Meat is normally received at Avonmouth Docks (eight miles from the city centre), where the specially equipped 0 berth has a double-storey shed, the top floor of which is connected with the Royal Edward cold stores by a conveyor gallery. This is, in effect, a moving two-way escalator carrying full trolleys of meat to the reception floor of the cold stores and bringing back the empty trolleys, which are handled manually, to the transit shed.

Slings of meat are landed by six 30-cwt. electric cranes through roof hatches in the transit shed to the first floor and through further openings in the first floor to ground level. Meat for immediate dispatch is generally handled on the first floor and is taken on trolleys by lift to the covered loading bays on the ground floor. About a score of vans can back up to the bay at each end of the shed and others can be loaded on the rail tracks that run up each side— all under cover.

Apart from the facilities at the port, Bristol has some excellent privately owned cold stores. Nevertheless, pressure on space is acute and meat has sometimes to be taken into storage at Bath and elsewhere. Among the private-enterprise cold stores are those of the Avon Cold Storage and Ice Co., Ltd., St. Philips Bridge, Bristol. This company is an associate of Western Transport, Ltd., but does little meat transport on its own account.

Although 30,000 tons of imported meat passed through the Port of Bristol last year, part of the chilled, frozen and fresh meat consumed locally comes from London and elsewhere, so that there is a two-way traffic from and to the city.

In storage and transit, chilled meat is kept at about freezing point in order that the inner tissues may not be damaged by heavy freezing. It is reckoned to keep for about six weeks and by the time it has reached England from a distant country, that period is nearing its end. Speed in distribution is therefore essential.

Whereas frozen carcasses can be carried stacked, chilled meat should, according to the hitherto accepted tenets of the trade, be hung in transit, which requires vehicles to be equipped with roof rails. Bristol claims to have been one of the first cities to have vehicles with hanging gear.

In the first stage of distribution, imported meat may travel by road from the docks to one of the privately owned cold stores in the city, or direct to the wholesaler. A second sub-stage may be from the cold store to the wholesaler. From that point the meat again travels by road to the retailer, and a van may then complete the chain of delivery to the housewife.

The municipal slaughterhouse at Gordon Road meets the demands of private-enterprise butchers (who, according to Mr. Norman G. Parsons, past-president of the Master Butchers' Association, handle about three-fifths of the retail sales of meat in Bristol) and of the Bristol Co-operative Society.

The season for home killing reaches a peak from July to December, whereas January to June can be regarded as the importing season. Last year, 9,832 beasts, 2,886 calves, 15,603 sheep and 13,840 pigs were killed at Gordon Road, and some 3,850 tons of meat, plus offal, was carried away in road vehicles.

Animals brought for slaughter come from as far north as the Scottish border and from Ireland, although most originate in the southwest.

Vehicles are loaded under cover from ground level, as it has been impossible to incorporate a bank in the premises. Many of Bristol's 500 butchers collect their meat from the abattoir in their own vans, which are used also for retail deliveries. Mr. Parsons is one who does so, and offers deliveries to customers twice a week.

So far as shop work is concerned, the sphere of the haulier seems to be mainly in the distribution of meat outside the city, although there is an important exception in the Bristol Co-operative Society. They have 70 butchery shops, of which 57 are in the city, but they have only one meat van of their own.

They rely mainly on United Carriers, Ltd., to deliver meat from the Society's cold stores to the shops, which extend over a distance of 25 miles to the west and eight miles to the east. They have found the arrangement to be excellent.

On Monday and Thursday, two rounds are made by the Society's Dodge meat van and a vehicle supplied by U.C.L. Two U.C.L. vehicles operate on Tuesday (three rounds) and Wednesday (two rounds), but the B.C.S. van is sufficient for Friday's deliveries, when only one round is required. Weston-superMare, on the western boundary of the Society's area, is served twice a week. About 40 tons of meat a week in full van-loads is distributed in this way.

Four C-licence vans are also used to supply shops with sausages, pies and so on. At the time of my visit, a mobile butchery shop was under construction. The Society have in the past found little use for this type of vehicle, because they looked ahead in the development of new housing areas and built shops early.

The other municipal abattoir, at Hotwells, is leased to Mutual Meat Traders, Ltd., who are recognized in the city as having helped to raise the standard of hygiene in meat distribution. It is an interesting co-operative venture, started in July, 1954, at the instigation of Mr. T. J. Wise, head of T. J. Wise and Co., Ltd., Temple Gate, Bristol.

Mutual Meat Traders are wholesalers, but retail butchers are shareholders, and their function is to buy cattle and meat for the shareholders and other butchers. Their transport is supplied under contract by Transport (Bristol), Ltd., Cattle Market Road, Bristol.

The roots of this company go back to 1920, when T. J. Wise began the motor haulage of meat. Later, the Victoria Motor Co. was formed to take over the work. This company still exists, but is now concerned wholly with the retail motor trade.

Transport (Bristol) have succeeded to the haulage business of the Victoria Motor Co., and are now carrying for some of the same customers on the same rounds as T. J. Wise did in 1920. The directors are Mr. T. J. Wise, Mr. P. J. Wise, Mr. H. W. Jones, Mr. E. B. Reakes and Mr. W. Ford. Mr. T. J. Wise, Mr. Reakes and Mr. Ford are directors also of Mutual Meat Traders.

Metal-lined Vans The transport company's fleet consists of 19 metal-lined insulated vans. There are four Austin 5-ton platform lorries with containers, three Austin 5-ton vans, an Austin 5-ton cattle truck, three ICarrier vans, three Thames 3-ton vans, four Thames platform lorries with containers, and a Bedford 2-tonner with container. In addition, there is a Thames 5-cwt. service van on C licence.

Fourteen of the vehicles work under contract A licences and the rest under special A licences. Four vehicles are on contract to Thomas Borthwick and Sons, Ltd., five to Mutual Meat Traders and five to the London Central Meat Co., Ltd. Eight of the 19 vans have petrol engines and 11 are oilers_ Bristol is noted for the rigorous enforcement of hygiene in the handling of meat, and Transport (Bristol) have set a high standard in the design of vehicles.

Co-operation in Hygiene Longwell Green Coachworks, Ltd., Mr. P. J. Wise and Mr. F. J. Redstone, chief sanitary inspector of Bristol, collaborated in the design of hygienic metal bodies, which incorporate neatly fitted plastics washbasins supplied from insulated hotwater tanks. Soap and towels are available on the vehicles, and waste water is collected in an underfloor tank which can be drained at the depot.

I am assured that these facilities are no mere lip service to hygiene and that they are regularly used by driver-porters before and after handling meat on delivery rounds.

Mr. P. J. Wise told me that zinc lining was being employed, as some light alloy had been found to stain meat and to cause butchers to do unnecessary trimming. Despite their impervious met, floors, some of the vans have removable duckboards, which are made in 3-ft. runs.

Transport (Bristol) also have about 20 insulated containers, which were purchased to deal with an increase in the imports of hard meat into Avonmouth Docks. Some of these containers are carried by subcontractors, including Messrs. Northover Bros., Pitning, Glos.

Traffic is carried in bulk from the docks to places as far afield as Newcastle upon Tyne and Glasgow. Regular runs are made to Newport (Mon), Swansea, Cardiff, Pembroke, Exeter, Plymouth, Birmingham and London.

There is also a substantial movement from the docks to the cold stores in Bristol Fresh meat is collected from slaughterhouses in Gloucester, Weston-Super-Mare and Hereford, as well as Hotwells, Bristol.

On one contract deliveries are made to over 160 shops in Devon and Cornwall, and on another to 70 shops in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Worcestershire and Wiltshire. Shop work is particularly pressing from Monday to Wednesday, whereas the handling of imported meat involves a great deal of weekend operation.

C-licence Fleet T. J. Wise and Co., Ltd.. have their own C-licence fleet of three Austin, Thornycroft and Guy 3-ton vans, four new Thames 4D vans and four Thames 5-cwt. vehicles. The company are retailers, as well as wholesalers, and have six shops in Bristol. The small vans are used for retail deliveries, and the larger vehicles for collecting meat from Bristol and London for shops. Deliveries are made also to ships in Bristol and other ports.

Another large meat-haulage undertaking is that of A. D. Forsey (Transport), Ltd.. Worle, Westonsuper-Mare. The company was formed a year ago for administrative convenience to separate transport from Mr. A. D. Forsey's other interests. He is assisted by his son, Mr. John Forsey, and by Mr. Leslie James, formerly of British Road Services, who is manager.

The company have 28 vehicles. 16 of which are assigned to meat work and the rest to general haulage. Much use is made of box containers and most of the vehicles are fully insulated. Albion. Bedford and Seddon are the principal makes, but this year five new B.M.C. oilers have been added to the fleet.

Twenty-two vans operate under special A licences and six under B licences, authorizing the carriage of meat and animal by-products within 150 miles. Forsey's have always handled meat, but a combination of decontrol and denationalization settled them finally in this specialized business. The bulk of their meal work is from London and Bristol docks and cold stores, carrying imported meat to the Midlands, Lancashire and other parts of the country.

Home-killed meat is distributed from Weston-super-Marc and Taunton municipal slaughterhouses to retailers mainly within a 25-mile radius of each of those places, but extending also to Gloucester in the north-east and Ilfracombe and Barnstaple in the west. About 50 tons a week goes out from Weston and a smaller amount from Taunton.

A nightly service is run from Weston and Taunton (where the company also have a depot) to Smithfield Market. Forsey's London representative attends to the shunting of vehicles while the trunk drivers rest during the day before returning to the west in the evening, perhaps with meat from London Docks on behalf of U.C.L. Meat traffic is supplemented by other foodstuffs.

Mr. John Forsey stressed the importance of maintaining fair rates in meat haulage, particularly having regard to the high quality of service demanded and the abnormal amount of waiting involved in dock work, with the inevitable overtime costs. United Carriers, he said, preserved a fair level.

H. Pye and Son. Ltd., also have meat-haulage interests in Bristol, where they use two Bedford 5-tonners for deliveries to shops in Gloucestershire and another Bedford 5-tonner for bulk work from the main ports to large towns in the Midlands and south of England.

Part Played by U.C.L The activities of U.C.L. in South Wales and the south-western counties of England are controlled by Mr. H. Rowland Young, area transport manager, at 59 Churchill Way, Cardiff. United Carriers have an office at 51 Old Market Street, Bristol, from which the services of one chartered operator and eight contracting meat carriers can be commanded.

These nine hauliers run 16 locally based vehicles, but 24 more based within 30 miles of the city are available on request. In addition, their ramifications enable U.C.L. to have a continuous stream of vehicles operating nationally and calling daily at Avonmouth, Bristol and other places in the south-west.

Work done from Bristol by United Carriers consists mainly of distribu

lion to retailers within a radius of 50 miles and bulk movements from ships at Avonmouth and from local cold stores to all parts of the United Kingdom. Meat for consumption in and around Bristol is usually collected from slaughterhouses and cold stores in the city itself, and from Avonmouth, Bath, Weston-super-Mare and Midsomer Norton.

Weekly movements in terms of tons varied widely with the seasons, but over the year, Mr. .Young told me, it would generally be found that about four-fifths consisted of imported meat and the remaining fifth of home-killed.

United Carriers did not, he said, have any great difficulty in maintaining their standard rates. These have

recently been revised. Those for retail work depend on tonnage and distance, and vary widely. Mr. Young was confident that, despite the increase in C-licence vehicles, the ever-mounting cost of maintenance would convince butchers that hauliers could give a cheaper service.

As from Sunday, hauliers will have to comply with the new Food Hygiene Regulations, but I gathered from Mr. Redstone that their requirements would not bear heavily on local operators.

Attention to Hygiene "The importance of hygiene in the handling and transport of meat has received special attention in Bristol in recent years," he told me.

"Many new meat vans specially constructed for the purpose are now in service and, in other cases, adaptations and conversions have been made with a fair measure of satisfaction. The conversion of Bristol meat vans to enable all home-killed meat to be hung was completed some time ago, and every van now engaged on wholesale or retail meat distribution within the city is of the closed type.

All vans entering the city to pick up meat for distribution outside the boundaries are enclosed, with the exception of one. The operator in question. who uses a lorry with a canvas tilt, has indicated that a closed van is on order, in which meat will be hung and offals carried in metal bins."

Mr. Redstone made the practical suggestion that the Ministry of Health should indicate approved types of vehicle for the conveyance of meat at all stages of distribution. Demonstrations of such vans could then be held in various parts of the country. These exhibitions would greatly assist manufacturers, the meat trade and the health departments of local authorities.