National Service for Small Lots
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Mr. H. H. V. Guest Comes Back to Free-enterprise Haulage with Four Companies: Fleet of51 Vehicles Divided Between London and Bath
By C. S. Dunbar M.Inst.T.
EVERYBODY—the manufacturer and the private individual—at some time faces the problem of having an odd piece of furniture moved. Quite a large number of odd pieces is moved through the ordinary network of parcels services, but nobody really likes this method. The owner worries about the safety of his goods, and the carrier finds that furniture does not mix well with general traffic. Thus the comparatively few operators who specialize in furniture smalls fill a real need.
The Guest group of companies provides an interesting example of how regular services for this class of traffic have evolved. Mr. H. H. V. Guest began his transport career in 1926 by starting a parcels service between Bath and Bristol with a Ford Model-T I-ton van. This business grew until six vehicles were engaged.
In 1931 Mr. Guest discovered that there was a regular demand for removals between Bath and London, so he bought suitable equipment and in addition to ordinary domestic removals offered facilities for the delivery of new furniture from the London factories to the West of England and South Wales. Premises
were taken at 9 Anton Street, Hackney, as a London terminal.
The smalls side was not neglected. The businesses
of Mr. James and Messrs. Servior, both running between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, were bought and so was the Trader Motor Transport Co., of Chard. This r18 gave Mr. Guest a depot in Chard. He further strengthened his position in 1933 by taking over the business of Messrs. Wood and Ling, of Bath, who worked a daily service to and from Bristol, as well as newspaper delivery services over a 30-mile radius from Bath. The furniture side was extended by the purchase of four vans from Mr. J. R. Hillman, one from Mr. H. Robinson and three from Mr. R. Newman, all Bath operators.
In 1937, the business was turned over to a limited liability company, Guest, Wood and Ling, Ltd., and continued to make steady progress until war broke out. When the Ministry of War Transport Road Haulage Organization was established, Guest, Wood and Ling became a controlled undertaking and the headquarters of a unit. This changed the character of the business, as priority had to be given to armaments, aircraft parts and food. Some of the vans were converted to carry meat. On decontrol, there was a reversion to the pre-war arrangements and the businesses of two more Bath removal contractors were bought— those of Mr. R. T. Watson and Messrs. Charlish and Price. The post-war fleet numbered 65.
The undertaking passed to the British Transport Commission on August 16, 1948, and the whole staff was transferred as well. At first the business was carried on as Guest, Wood and Ling (B.T.C.), Ltd., with Mr. H. H. V. Guest in charge. He left after a year and the business was merged in the Bath and Wells Group. The Anton Street depot continued to be attached to Bath until 1951, although all the other London furniture carriers were merged into the Edmonton group.
In February, 1951, all of these and the Anton Street depot were transferred to Pickfords New Furniture Group. Mr. G. 1. Prescott, who had been in charge at Anton Street for many years. became assistant manager of this group.
A new company, Guest Carriers (Hackney), Ltd., came into existence on July 14, 1954, and was successful in tendering for the Anton Street depot, together with 10 licensed and one unlicensed vehicles. To these, six more vehicles were added on January 6, 1955. Pickfords were using premises at Seaton Street, Edmonton, for the assembly of new furniture for Scotland and these also were offered for sale. The directors successfully tendered and formed Guest Carriers (Edlinonton), Ltd., to take them over.
This company is only a property owner at present and in turn rents the site to Guest Scottish Carriers, Ltd., who run a daily service to Scotland and the NorthEast of England, and work in close co-operation with other Scottish hauliers.
The group's position was consolidated by the purchase on June 13, 1955, of Charlton Works, Lower Bristol Road, Bath, with another 35 vehicles. The Bath terminal is run by H. H. V. Guest Road Services. Ltd. Parcels work has not been restarted and there is no immediate likelihood of its being done.
General haulage and removals facilities are offered, and a large amount of machinery is carried. Trunk services are run from Bath to London, and there are frequent journeys to various parts of the country. The London companies are concentrating upon furniture traffic to the west, the south coast, the north-east and Scotland. Much work is sub-contracted.
The business works like any general parcels undertaking, in that regular daily collections are made from many customers, with a large number of casual calls coming through as well. As far as possible, any big lot is collected on the van that is going to deliver it, but this, of course, is not always possible and in any case the odd lots have to be handled by the collection and delivery vans and sorted at the depots.
Most of the new furniture goes to retail shops. Consequently only one man is normally needed on each van. The senders often use their own notes, but the company have a form of delivery note in triplicate which they use whenever possible. Two copies of this note go out with the goods, one being brought back by the driver after signature by the consignee.
A loading summary sheet is made out for each load and consignees usually sign this sheet as well. For accounting purposes, a charging advice is sent to customers as soon as practicable after collection of the goods, this being backed by a copy of the goods inwards note. If the receipted note is not available when the account goes out it is sent along later. The company's practice in this respect thus follows the custom of bulk hauliers rather than that of express carriers.
The Guest companies have a system of referencing from one document to another so that inquiries can
easily be answered. Vehicles are inter-worked to the best advantage and inter-company charges are raised where one company works for another.
All furniture is charged according to bulk at so much per cubic foot, but the rate tapers as the cubic capacity increases. There are actually four rates in force: up to 25 cu. ft.; 26-150 cu. ft.; 151-750 Cu. ft., and over 750 cu. ft. Distance is dealt with by first dividing the whole of Britain into 63 delivery zones and then coalescing these into 15 groups, each of which has a four-part scale according to the division set out above.
Most of the new-furniture trade in London is concentrated around Shoreditch, Haggerston, Edmonton and Tottenham, but there are also 12 factories south of the river, so that Guest's have to cast their net fairly widely for collections in the Metropolitan area.
The fleet now numbers 51 units located as follows:— London, 14 Guy, two Dennis, two Albion, a Bedford and a Commer pantechnicon. Bath, seven Bedford, four E.R.F., two Foden, two Guy Otter, two Guy Vixen, a Cormier, a Leyland, a Maudslay and a Thames lorry. The Commer and the Thames have oil engines. There are also four Bedford tippers, two Guy Vixen pantechnicons, a Bedford and a Commer van.
Mr. H. H. V. Guest, Mr. W. A. Guest and Mr. G. J. Prescott are the directors of the two London-based companies and Mr. H. H. V. Guest, Mr. Prescott and Mr. A. H. Guest are the directors of H, H. V. Guest Road Services, Ltd., Bath.