U.S. Land Big Fish Contract
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PAA WIDESPREAD fish distribution scheme involving over 120 vehicles, 400 Grimsby fish merchants and countless fish retailers started this week as a result of a contract between British Road Services Ltd. and the Grimsby Fish Merchants Association Ltd. The new scheme will cover most of England and Wales and will eliminate individual collections by retailers from railway stations.
The scheme is linked to the reduction of the Grimsby fish train services. Deliveries by the vehicles to local fish retailers will take place in the early hours of the morning and will be completed by 9 a.m. on the day following dispatch from Grimsby. Empties will be returned by the same process. Vehicles to be operated under the scheme range from 30-cwt. sided trucks to 10-ton articulated platform units.
The scheme is being introduced in stages to coincide with the adjustment of railway operations. The first phase started on Monday this week, and when completed will involve 57 B.R.S. vehicles operating on fish delivery services from a dozen railheads. These vehicles are based at B.R.S. premises at Derby, Leicester, Birmingham, Oxford, Swansea, Cardiff, Gloucester, Bristol, Southampton, Bournemouth, Taunton, Exeter and Plymouth. As the fish train travels across England from Grimsby dropping its loaded wagons at selected rail-heads, the vehicles load the consignments and deliver the fish to retailers in the area, the whole delivery operation from Grimsby taking place overnight.
The introduction of the second phase, covering Fenlands, North Norfolk, East Anglia and Lincolnshire, begins in a month's time. • In this phase trunking will be carried out by road with 10-ton articulated units on services from Grimsby to Norwich, Wisbech and Bury St. Edmunds.
The third and fourth phases, which are planned to start at monthly intervals, will serve the Potteries, North and Mid-Wales, Yorkshire and the North-East Coast, the Lake District, Cumberland. Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.