Labour -Problems Harass oitant Trunk-route Operator
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A Leading Liverpool Transport Operator with a Fleet of Over 5o Vehicles Finds Its Requirements Well Met by Multi-wheelers, of which It Runs Both Rigid and Articulated Types
• FOR some months, not unnatur
aliy, the problem of securing adequate staff has been a constant worry for the majority of roadtransport operators. At a time when new vehicles are rarely obtainable and certain spare parts are in short supply, the importance of maintenance work requires no emphasis. Nevertheless, .. first-class ailtomobile mechanics continue to depart for other"fields of activity.
Outspoken comment on this subject has been made to the representatives of the authorities by Mr. P. Stevenson, of Stevenson Transport, Ltd., Liverpool, who told a staff 'man that his company had several vehicles off the road simply.
_ through inability to obtain fitters who would undertake maintenance operations.
-Experienced Men in Dig Demand
The services of such men are vitally important to the road-transport industry and it is the cause of no little annoyance when one hears of the capabilities of experienced men being inadequately used in the Forces or armament factories. Stevenson Transport, Lid., operates
• a fleet of over 50 machines, the majority being six-wheeled and eightwheeled Scammells, so experienced men are obviously in demand on the mechanical side,
Despite current difficulties, however, Stevenson Transport, Ltd., continues to move many important consignments and each of the company's vehicles covers an average of about 1,000 miles per week. ,
The business was established. in 1919 as Messrs. Stevenson Brothers, the fleet consisting of a Y-type Daimler and a Riker. At that time Mr. Stevenson saw that there was scope for improved transport services between the port' of Liverpool and the East Midlands district,. so a start was made with carrying provisions and, later, the business developed into the sphere of general haulage. Substantially, the " main line " is from LiverpoOl to Nottingham and_ Derby, but Burton on Trent, Leicester and other districts in that part of the country, are fully served, whilst there is also a further link between Leicester And London. However, the company does not cater for Liverpool-London traffic.
In addition to -the head office and ma.rn garageat Liverpool, there are
depots at Derby, Nottingham and London. Storage facilities are available at the warehouse of Stevenson Transport, Ltd., in Nottingham, and in that city there is escalator equipment which removes the goods as quickly as they can be unloaded, carrying, perhaps, 15 tons away from a wagon in the course of half an hour. Traffic arrangements are carried out entirely through the company's own offices and without the use of clearing houses. Mr. Stevenson's feeling is that any interchange of traffic would best be handled by the actual operators, through their association.
When the business was started Mr. Stevenson drove one of his own vehicles, successively handling Rikers, Maudslays and Scammells.
In the early 'twenties this source of rapid and reliable transport between tlfe port and the East Midlands found a steady response, with the result that the organization grew steadily. After " buying experience " at the beginning, the company started operating Scarnmell vehicles, being the first public transport operator in Liverpool to use this make.
Fleet Includes Many Multi-wheelers The fleet now includes 17 eightwheelers, nine articulated .sixwheelers, five rigid six-wheelers, and three mechanical horses of Scammell manufacture. In addition, there are five Fodens, six Albions and various smaller Vehicles for miscellaneous duties. The total has remained at its
present level for about the past eight years.
Pre-war, the vehicle crews worked on a relay system, by which a local driver would make deliveries and collections at the terminal points. The vehicle would then be transferred to a trunk driver who would run it to the East Midlands or Liverpool, as the case might be, afterwards rttturning with another machine. Now, of co'urse, most of the running is done in daylight and the long-distance vehicles usually coliplete three round trips a week.
Full maintenance equiptuent is available at the Liverpool garage and extensive use is made of the spareunit system. Vehicles receive frequent washing, greasing and checking over. whilst they are overhauled whenever the engineers' reports show this procedure to be desirable, probably, on an average, at intervals of 18 months.
Stocks of Spares Well Maintained
In addition to carrying out servicing, overhauls and repainting, it has been the .custpm for all bodybuilding work in cOnnection with the fleet to be performed in the company's workshops. So far as possible, in the present circumstances, useful supplies of spares are maintained, together with stocks of Goodyear and Dunlop tyres.
In brief, Stevenson Transport, Ltd.', has developed a specialized service between Liverpool and the East Midlands in such a manner that it has become virtually essential to important trading concerns. The present scale of the business is the fullest justification for Mr. Stevenson's or)ginal intuition and for his practical efforts that followed.