Transport
Office
A
teashop engineer travelled to Brighton,
some fish was sent to Cadby Hall from
Grimsby and an ice cream cabinet broke
down and had to be returned to Abbey Road
to be overhauled. These three incidents
had one thing in common, they all involved
transport which had to be paid for. Until
decentralisation started in the 1960s the
company received hundreds of such charges
which were handled by the Transport
Office.
By
1957 there were 2,750 vehicles in use at
Lyons varying in type from electric
vehicles in the yard to long distant vans
and lorries to company cars; there was
also a locomotive at Greenford. Some
formed fleets to carry goods on behalf of
other departments, while others were
provided and maintained to be operated by
the staff of other departments. For
example, vehicles of the Heavy Transport
fleet were used to collect cocoa beans
from London's Docks, while the Wholesale
Tea Department were provided with vehicles
for use by their own salesmen. It was a
complicated job making sure that any
charges were correct. For this, the
Carriage Invoice Group had the
responsibility for passing invoices for
all rail and road carriage, and most
shipping invoices other than those in
connection with export.
The
Records Section (of which the Carriage
Invoice Group were part) was a vital part
of the Transport Office. The Licensing and
Services Group of this section arranged
for the licensing and insuring of all
vehicles. It arranged for vehicles to
undergo regular maintenance, kept records
of mileages run by every tyre in use (yes
every tyre) and provided a typing and
relief service for the office. Staff
Records and Fleets Group kept a record of
all staff who were authorised to drive a
company vehicle (and made sure they were
in possession of a current driving
licence), kept the fleet register up to
date, and recorded accidents. Safety First
awards to drivers for accident free
driving were made on the strength of these
records. The hours the driver of a
commercial vehicle may work (and his
minimum rest periods) were controlled (and
still are) by Act of Parliament, and this
group had to scrutinise the record sheets
(before the benefit of tachographs) kept
by every driver to ensure he conformed to
the law.
Other
records were kept in respect of each
vehicle and included; mileages run, petrol
and oil consumption, petty cash payments
for petrol and minor repairs and a weekly
report on the condition of vehicles.
Wherever possible this information was
recorded at one of the company's
establishments, usually Wholesale Tea
Depots; but in the case of some 800
unattached vehicles, such as cars used by
sales staff, the driver was expected to
keep a weekly log sheet himself. These
were controlled and checked by the Log
Sheet and Vehicle Invoice Group who
advised Normand (the motor subsidiary) of
any adverse condition reported. Other
responsibilities of the group were the
passing of invoices for new vehicles,
repairs, tyres and petrol, preparing
contracts with outside garages and
controlling the stocks of petrol and oil
in Cadby Hall. They also placed orders for
replenishments.
The
Costing and Accounting Section handled a
mass of documents representing a variety
of charges: petrol purchased, whether for
a thousand gallon drop at Cadby Hall or a
couple of gallons for a Scottish salesman.
Repairs, in 1950 a puncture was 2/6d and
an engine overhaul £200. New tyres,
drivers wages, wash to leather or
paintwork. Apart from the departmental
charges there was another aspect to be
considered; what was the cheapest method
of transport for the company's various
types of goods.
When
the departments were decentralised the
newly formed businesses became responsible
for their own fleets. Some changed their
liveries and this resulted in the
corporate image of dark blue, grey and
gold being lost. Later some decentralised
businesses disposed of their own transport
fleets and either contracted the
distribution of their goods to carriers or
leased vehicles with their own
livery.
See
also Subsidiary Companies-Normand Garage
Ltd
©
Peter Bird 2005
|