Co-OPERATION SHIFTS TE TRAFFIC
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By a
Special Correspondent How a Major London Depot of British Road Services is Organized So that Big Tonnages of Various Kinds of Goods Can Be Dispatched Quickly and Efficiently
FROM the outside, a British Road Services depot looks
very much like any other transport base. Many B.R.S. branches run only small fleets and-at first sight it would appear that their operations are not far removed from the activities of their competitors. Indeed, with so many former fleet owners at the helm, it would be surprising if the State undertaking had not inherited most of the methods these men employed before nationalization. But B.R.S. must be run in a special way.
Their technique appears to be succeeding, and it was to discover the formula for this success that I recently spent some time at one of their busiest London depots---Tufnell Park. After a close study of the complicated operations at this branch, I found, however, that there was really no secret about it. Only two ingredients were required— organization and co-operatiqn.
At Tufnell Park, as at all other branches, both these virtues are continually stressed to all sections of the staff. Certainly the branch manager, Mr. A. N. Annison, is well aware of their value, for be has one of the toughest jobs in the London district. From a cramped and badly shaped depot, he has to control all Scottish and north-eastern traffic with his fleet of 112 trunk and shunt vehicles.
Operations take in the whole of Yorkshire, Northumberland, Co. Durham and Scotland, whilst in the reverse direction Tufnell Park is the "report centre" for vehicles from these areas. So, besides keeping their own lorries employed, the London branch have to load foreign-based vehicles.
. There is hardly any type of general traffic which is not handled at the depot—consignments range from steel and pig-iron to antiques and stuffed animals. A proportion of the traffic is in drums, including oils, acids and other liquids. Substantial quantities of paper and chocolate are also handled..
Another activity at Tufnell Park is effecting the trunk movement of traffic obtained by B.R.S. (Parcels), Ltd., whilst a large amount of smalls traffic is' distributed in the southern counties, shared between Tufnell Park vehicles and lorries from branches in the south.
Mixed Bag of Vehicles To carry out this work, Mr. G. T. Nash, the operating superintendent, has a mixed bag of vehicles. In the 16-ton range there are 59 A.E.C. eight-wheelers, a Leyland eightwheeler and 20 Leyland Beaver articulated. outfits. Lower down the weight scale he has eight Leyland Comet " artics " and one rigid, 14 Seddon 6-tonners and three Seddon 10-11-ton " artics." There are also four Albion Chieftain 7-tonners and an E,R.F. 8-tonner.
About 75 vehicles leave the depot each evening to cover a maximum of 200 miles each. Their main destinations are Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Bishop Auckland, York, Leeds, Castleford, Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Hull and Sheffield.
Because of the mileage involved, drivers work a shift system on the Newcastle and Scotland runs. With loads bound for Edinburgh or Glasgow a driver will take his vehicle to Manchester or Hindley, where he will sleep before continuing the journey'. On the Newcastle and Stockton service the driver goes overnight to Doncaster, arriving there at about 7 a.m., and he is relieved by another driver who completes the journey, making any .drops en route. .. • This means that, although -a 11-day delivery can be offered for Stockton and Newcastle, there is a two-day service to Scotland. However, despite the fact that some private hauliers claim overnight delivery to Scotland, B.R.S. customers appear satisfied with the two-day service, according to Mr. Annison.
During 1956, Tufnell Park vehicles ran 6.11 per cent. empty, the lowest figure for any branch in their district. Mr. Nash usually has 90 per cent. of his vehicles available for work, with the rest as relief vehicles or under repair. The branch's actual carrying capacity is 1,530 tons, and it has been worked out that 90 per cent. of this is in constant use.
" We do try to keep our vehicles in operation all the time," said Mr. Annison. "Trunk vehicles usually operate 20 hours a day for five days a week, and some of them go on like that for six days on the Scottish services."
Mr. Annison has two right-hand men, Mr. Nash and Mr. L. Strube, his commercial superintendent. Mr. Strube is responsible for all commercial activities, which makes him the vital link between the branch and the customer. Any inquiry is taken over the telephone by his chief assistant, Mr. J. D. Parish, who quotes from the B.R.S. schedules, although the rate given depends to a certain extent on the quantity of the consignment.
Proposed Rate The branches keep in close touch with their district office, and for a load of 20 tons or more the district office are told the proposed rate. This is done because district representatives cover the whole of London, and without this liaison. two rates might be quoted for the same consignment.
Having given a rate, it is confirmed in writing, whether it appears acceptable to the customer or not. There are two reasons for this. First, B.R.S. want to keep their name before the potential 'customer's eye and, secondly, every letter details their conditions of carriage.
This letter is later followed up by a telephone call from Mr. Farish and, if he succeeds in securing the order, the next step is to overcome the question of credit control. An entirely new customer can either furnish two references and have his goods delivered on credit, or he may agree. to a cash-on-collection arrangement, which is often the case. This saves him opening an account.with B.R.S. if he is not likely to repeat his order.
In the event of a consignment being damaged or lost, Tufnell Park get a teleprinter message in code from the receiving branch—a system which saves time and money. Anxious to keep this sort of occurrence down to a minimum, B.R.S. have organized claims committees, consisting of the commercial superintendents from every branch, who meet regularly at their district office. They put forward suggestions, many of which are put into practice immediately.
For example, there were recently several complaints about cardboard-box traffic being damaged through tight ropes cutting through the corners of the boxes. Tufnell Park adopted a system of protective corner boards on these c18 loads, and, incidentally, all B.R.S. vehicles carrying cardboard boxes are now equipped with them.
In common with other branches, Tufnell Park have their own join consultative committee, which is made up of representatives from the management, staff, drivers and engineers. This committee meet once a month, and their discussions are recorded and sent to a divisional committee. Many ideas for depot improvements are talked over, whilst Mr. Strube takes the opportunity to give the latest news on claims, accidents, mileage and tonnage.
The trading position is most important, for each branch is a trading entity in itself. B.R.S. have worked the system out to a fine art, so that the branches are charged for everything concerning them. When a foreign-based vehicle is loaded at Tufnell Park they charge the operating branch with the work done by the shunt driver and mate.
Similarly, any B.R.S. vehicle filling up with fuel at another branch is charged at commercial rates. Even when minor repairs are carried out after a long haul the operating branch have to pay for them, and the complete overhaul, which every vehicle has periodically, also has to be 'accounted for. • When ;traffic is sent up to Glasgow on a Scottish-based vehicle, Tufnell Park allow them the full rate less 10 per cent., working on similar lines to a' clearing house. The pattern is a little different if the load happens to be under a ton, for there is a set scale for small lots.
At the other end, of course, the same sort of thing is happening, which means that branches never exchange cheques, as a " credit " system is easily worked out. But it is only by employing these methods that a branch can get a true trading return.
Over on the operating side, Mr. Nash is more concerned with vehicles, labour and staff—he has to look after 120 day shunters, 70 truck drivers and 29 mates, who between them are paid about £175,000 a year. Then there are 20 men on the loading bank and crane, and about 12 others—yard marshalS, fuel issuers and cleaners—besides the various foremen.
SENIOR COMMERCIAL ASSISTANT J. D. Parish Customer Can acts, Rating, Invoi ing, Claims etc.
Inward Traffic
Mr. Nash's traffic clerks start work at 7 a.m., receiving drivers' documents as soon as they arrive. When a picture of the inward traffic has been drawn up, the task of deploying labour for delivery work by shunt vehicles is their next task.
Each clerk arranges his own traffic and has his particular batch of shunt drivers to deal with, so one of the major problems is economizing with vehicles and men. Drivers give in their documents at windows which are allotted to various sections of the country, and the papers are checked by the traffic clerk and his assistant to sort out the split and multi-delivery loads. In order to get trunk vehicles loaded for their night run, loads of this type have to be taken off and passed over the bank.
With so much interchanging of traffic, the bank is one of the nerve centres of the depot, and a bank foreman and staff occupy an office in the midst of the activity. As the consignments are unloaded, they take charge of the notes to make up loads for either their own shunt vehicles or for vehicles which have come in from the southern counties carrying traffic for the north.
The bank foreman is only responsible for the documentation from which foreign bases are charged. He and his staff are particularly proud of their own organization, aiming at a 24-hour delivery service for any consignment which arrives at Tufnell Park. On a typical day last month they took 117 tons Of smalls from trunk vehicles, with, every consignment weighing less than a ton. The whole lot was delivered by the next day, some in and around London, and the rest in the Home Counties and Southampton, Fork Trucks on the Bank
A Neal 5-ton crane and a Coventry Climax fork-lift truck are engaged on bank work, which goes on day and night. Valuable goods, such as whisky and cigarettes, are closely protected in the cage," which is so positioned that it is virtually impossible for thefts to take place. On the bank, in the canteen and all round the yard, loudspeakers have been installed to assist in locating the scores of drivers regularly in the depot.
In controlling the bank staff and drivers, Mr. Nash has to enforce discipline for all such offences as carelessness and lateness. B.R.S. have a fixed disciplinary code, and an employee can appeal to Mr. Annison or even to the district manager if he thinks he has been unfairly punished. At every hearing he may have his shop steward with him.
With so many employees in a closely knit organization. B.R.S. obviously have more labour troubles than other operators—not because they are worse employers, but rather because the unions can control their members better.
Tufnell Park have extremely few disputes, and on the whole there is a high morale at the depot and a pride in the job being done. Mr. Annison is proud, too, although he admits that he would not approve of another complete nationalization Of the industry. On this point he was expressing purely his personal views.
However, on one point he is adamant—B.R.S. are not responsible for rate-cutting. "The free-enterprise 'hauliers have brought all this on themselves through being foolish at the outset," he said. "When they acquired our staff and depots, the traffic clerks knew our schedules, but, instead of sticking to them, the new owners immediately started undercutting each other. That started the slide, and now rates are certainly below the 1949 level in most cases. Some are even lower than they were in 1936."
Mr. Annison pointed out that B.R.S. had been forced to prune their own rates to safeguard as much traffic-: as possible, yet they had still lost a great amount of work
through rate-cutting by private operators. Despite these losses of traffic, the Tufnell Park branch are making big progress. Urged on by their success in the difficult Suez period, everyone is bent on making 1958 a record year for revenue. Already things are beginning to look as though this is possible. My glimpse behind the scenes has convinced me that they will do it.