Approved Depots.—Article X.
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Bennett's (Nottingham), Ltd., of Shakespeare Street Nottingham.
Nottingham is One of the " halfway houses" between north •and south. It was a point of call in the 1000 miles trial for motorcars in the year 1900, and was similarly turned to aceount during the R.A.C. commercial-motor trials of 1907. The Goose Fair, we may recall, Was in progress on the last 'occasion, at the beginning of the month Of October, when the cornpet-mg vehicles made a-stoppage in
• the lake city extending to several daYs. We are unaware that any . Special claims are advanced on behalf of Nottingham—as they are on • behalf of so many other places in or • near the centre of England—that it is the precise centre of the country. That claim, however, is somewhat beside the question. The importance of Nottingham as a manufacturing and trading centre, is admitted even by traders of neighbouring towns, in rivalry, ivIdlAt the lead of the city promises to be greatly enhanced in the near future, by the _improvement of the Trent tavigation, and in part by the activities of the Mnnicipality in the matter of encouraging new industrial enterprises to become established within its rateable area..
• There are, of course, several
and.old-established garages. in the city, but local inquiry which-we made satisfied us that the man . who is concentrating with mostvigour upon the matters of interest to commercial-motor users is Mr. H. A. Bennett, and it is a,ecordingly with his company's establishment that we have to deal in the 'tenth article of-this series. As one of the illustrations depicts,. Mr, Bennett also has a not inconsiderable Connection on the private-car side, but his energies and special intentions are more and more carrying himin the direction of catering in the ,future, as he has for years past, above all for heavy-vehicle owners. . The locationof the depot is ex eellent. It is not more than 150 yds. from the Victoria Station of the G.N. and G.C. Railways, and about the same distance from the Guildhall. There only lies, in fact; between th.e Guildhall and the depot, the Central Fine Station, arid. we may incidentally remark that Mr. Bennett is a hard-workjng volunteer member of the • The Brigade for something like two years. If we decide to take the market-place as one of the centres of activity and street •radiation in Nottingham,. it will be seen from the accompanying sketch-plan of the city -that the garage is but a short distancetherefrom.
The building accommodation in Shakespeare Street is Certainly not ideal • nobody admits this more readily than Mr. Bennett himself. Facilities are, however, of apraetient and essenLially-useful character, whilst they are supplemented, as regards storage space, by the existence of an auxiliary depot about 50 yds. away: This annexe" is in North Church Street, and it was previously in the occupation of Anether motor agent in the city. It-fortunately came into Mr. Bennett's hands towards the end of the year 1915, so that he was' able to use it for additional -commercialmotor storage. It will hold about 12 commercial vehicles of average size, and is generally " crammed to the gates."
One of the, admitted disadvantages of the premises in Shake' speare Street is the want of a rimthrough. The' entrance to the main building of the 'depot and to the, repair section is on the groynd level, whilst a Steep down-grade • alongside:takes one into the building which is utilized as a motorcycle' repair shop and lot the storage of a number of taxicabs that belong to.Nottiagham men who are serving in the Army.One finds on this lower-loved, building the 160-ton tire press, to which any wheels are readily`taken for the necessary. renewals to be efLeted. The wheels have to be conveyed from the. street level to the lower level in a truck, -or by other convenient means, such as rolling them. A small amount Of yard-space is found between the street and. this lower:, level building, but much of this space, on the occasion of our visit, was .encumbered by 'what we must term "odds and end.s.
Mr. Bennett has in stoefk a good range of solid-rubber. tires, Dunlop and Goodrich-males evidently meetingwith hiS-faVour, and representative stocks of oils and all ether consumable stores.' His Petrol installation, by Bow•ser, -consists -of
two 1000-gallon tanks at .Shakespeare Street; with an auxiliary 1000-gallon installation (Steel Barrel Co., Ltd.) at Shipstone'S Brewery, Basford, to which customer we shall make a further reference.
The repair equipment is suitable for the work -in hand and offering, the be-nches (11 vices) being particularly well laid out. One finds a couple of good lathes, large and small drilling machines, a grinder. a. hadk .saw. etc. tho motive power being derived from the Corpora: tion'S,.electric mains. Only to 'skilled mechanics are At the moment left to Mr. Bennett, but he manages to " carry on " for his• custuthers in respect of supply and maintenance contracts, and to undertake repairs with a minimum of delay, thanks to his having been -able to retain a proportion of unskilled labour which is ineligible for Military service. We may recall, qua military serviee, that 42 of a total pre-war staff of 44'have joined the colours, from which it .will be realized that. the contributions 'ofBennett's (Nottingham), Ltd., to war service have been very considerable both' in the Military and Commercial sistises: • Mr. Bennett t.el]s us.that the corn' raercial side of his business has beendeveloped chiefly Ace he moved to his present premises in the year 1911. After preliminary investigation: to no -small elt,e-nt due to his being a regular reader of TEE 0031TMERC,IAL. MOTOR, he entered into his first, maintenance contract with a user in the year 1012. During the first twelve months of his undertaking business on these lines he had run no fewer than 250,000 miles of service for customers with three-ton Albion lorries. This business of working under maintenance contra-etc de-. veIoped considerably, but it ro. eeived a set-back, in common with the experience of others all over the country, on the outbreak of war in August, j914. Five Albion threetonners and the " Despatch-• renowned" Albion " Skinner. and Rook." van were taken on the same day, whilst others followed. There was thereafter, considerable difficulty in the matter of obtaining deliveries: this trouble lasted until the month of March, 1915, but it was then found possible, at intervals, to obtain delivery of Albion three-tonners to an extent which has since enabled Mr. lenne4tt todeliver 24 in all. These releases practically bring his war delivery of Albion three-tonners, mot of which • were unfortunately impressed 'subsequently, up to the present date., • Recourse then became necessary to various other makes, as is indicate latea. One of his principal maintendlice contracts is with James 8hipstone and Sons, Ltd., of the Star Brewery; Basford, where a large garage is under the charge of a staff, and to which we have already -Made passing reference. •
Mr. Bennett's company, of course, is the sole concessionnaire in Nottingham and district for Albion vehicles, which representation it has held for about six years. The company also handles in satisfaetory numbers Belsnze, Ford and Star vehicles, and •McCurdS to a• smaller extent.
Mr. Bennett has found the .keystone to his success in commercial work to be the effective undertaking of maintenance contracts. He has only found it possible to .attain this reputation,and to retain his customers, by giving special attention to the employment of skilled • men, and by the guaranteeing of repair work. He is a great believer in the undertaking of maintenance contracts at a mileage rate, and in the practice of a depot to.tindertake everything for the cuatomer, lie naturally finds that different customers expect .slight variations to he made in the terms of the contracts, according, to facilities which are either affordedor required in the class of service. He has never found it necessary to introduce time charge into any of his running contracts. Where he is concerned with a low mileage, he has arranged that wages and standing charges,
. including insurance: are paid to his company on a weekly basis, thus leaving, for inclusion in the mileage rate,, fuel, oil and grease, repairs, tires and lighting. Painting and varnishing of the bodies are usu.airy': treated as a separate matter, because the tustes of customers in respect of them are divergent. Mr, Bennett has found himselt in close agreement with us concerning Suitable charges for maintenance,. but he naturally prefers not to disclose in any statement which may be put into local circulation exact particulars herean ant. .
Mr. Bennett's success on the commercial-motor side of the industry is no doubt largely due to the fact that he has had seventeen years of training in civil and general engineering, and that his only codirector, Mr. B. Watts, Who is the works manager and directly responsible for all engineering and technical work, is a trained engineer who served his full period of apprenticeship, followed by three years at the bench and four years in the Navy, before he settled upon motor maintenance as his forte. There is plenty of evidence in the shop that the success of the maintenance side is the outcome of hard and long hours' and that it is based upon the closest attention to detail, for by no other means can a reputation for reliable repairs-attach to any depot.
The company is now on the lockout for a new site, in erder that it may carry its commercial motor branoll forward on a scale commensurate with. both demand and potentialities. The existing depot in Shakespeare Street, and possibly the " annexe" in North Church Street, will be continued for reasons due -to what. may he termed' city business, but. it, is at the projected new depot., as to the location of which we may write nothing, that developments more closely in lino with our own conception of an "Approved depot" will he seen. Our readers must not gather from this statement anythink in the nature of reflection upon the existing "Approved depot "—and its "annexe '—with which we have been dealing.
There must naturally be a certain amount of marking time under war conditions for reasons which are obvious, the impossibility of obtaining adequate deliveries of complete vehicles, material or parts being amongst them. When peace comes, there should be a rapid reversion to the depot strength of August, 1914, which was a Staff of 42 with two directors inclusive of 12 skilled mechanics and six, apprentices. It remains to be seen to what extent lady drivers will thereafter be employed iis drivers of the lighter types of vans, for which departure Mr. Bennett was first responsible in Nottingham. We thus reach the conclusion of our article on Bennett's depot, bat we must again -refer to the air of " hustle" in Nottingham. The city's enterprise promises well in numerous directions—new factories, new .waterway widenings, progressive labour Conditions. Motor transport must benefit.