Could buses carry parcels again in the UK?

[Justin Tyme]

Midland Red closed its percels service in 1980, which contrasts quite strongly with some Scottish operators by the looks of it.

 

[ntypeman]

My copy of the Conditions of Carriage, dated July 1993

I never started till July 1995...!!!

 

[Roilshead]

The Ulsterbus parcels service closed in 2018/2019. Western Welsh had a parcels delivery service in the "greater-Cardiff" area using a small fleet of vans until 1969 - it closed soon after NBC came into being.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

As the name suggests, PostBus used to carry mail and the buses still have the post horn logo, but as I understand it the mail is now delivered by a separate company within Swiss Post.

Royal Mail used to run PostBus services in a few rural areas. IIRC there was a note about the Dent PostBus service in a Regional Railways timetable for Leeds to Carlisle from the 1990s.

As diversions into old children's TV shows aren't unusual here, I'll also mention that I have a vague memory of an episode of Postman Pat which involved Pat driving a Post Bus.

 

[Jordan Adam]

My local operator, Stagecoach East Scotland, has told me that the SBG type parcels service, the topic of this thread, only ended in their area in 2007. I have to say, it certainly wasn't widely advertised after 1990. In fact, I can't recall any Fife Scottish timetables, after the 1991 Stagecoach takeover, advertising a parcels service.

This will have been through Pegasus Express Limited which was a joint venture courier company set up between Stagecoach Bluebird and Pegasus Couriers in 1993, Bluebird retained 50% ownership until October 2008 when the company was sold to the French Post Office and eventually incorporated in to the DPD brand.

Their vehicles even carried a variation of the stripes livery:

Renault - PEGASUS EXPRESS Aberdeen Scotland

PO11 FXC M90 Perth. 15/09/2011

www.flickr.com

Pegasus Express - SP59 AZA

18-04-2011 - A9 Glenmorangie

www.flickr.com

 

[robertclark125]

Could any company have used door to door, using a van to pick up at a house, take to a bus station or depot, load, and at the other end, the reverse happened?

 

[Tom Gallacher]

Could any company have used door to door, using a van to pick up at a house, take to a bus station or depot, load, and at the other end, the reverse happened?

There would have been no reason why this couldn't happen but I don't know of any company that offered that service. In 1972 as a 16yr old I worked for an electronics supplier based in the centre of Glasgow and part of my daily duties was taking parcels containing radio's and cassette recorders to Anderston Bus Station for onward delivery to various customers in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. I suppose that this was as near as you could get to same day delivery. Strangely enough I never went to Buchanan St Bus Station so those areas served by Midland and Eastern Scottish obviously didn't merit our attention in a sales capacity.

 

[mjc]

Update from previous response.

My copy of the Conditions of Carriage, dated July 1993, refers to unaccompanied parcels.
Available on specific routes only: 106, 232, 238, 239, 250, 251, 252, 253, X23, X42, X43, X60/260.

And the best bit:

Love the ingenuity of using the dog tickets!
Out of interest (to see where the parcels could get to, and also the the spread of the PMT network) can anyone translate those service numbers into destinations?

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Love the ingenuity of using the dog tickets!
Out of interest (to see where the parcels could get to, and also the the spread of the PMT network) can anyone translate those service numbers into destinations?

No problem, didn't want to bore people:
106: Longton to Leek (no current equivalent).
232: Hanley to Tean (32 nowadays).
238/238: Cheadle to Uttoxeter via Alton (no current equivalent).
250 series: Hanley - Longton - Stone (no current equivalent).
X23: Keele University - Hanley - Sheffield (16 as far as Buxton nowadays).
X42: Hanley - Longton - Tean - Uttoxeter (no current equivalent to Tean, then 32 from Tean to Uttoxeter nowadays).
X43: Hanley - Longton - Cheadle (IN2 nowadays).
X60/260: Hanley - Stone - Stafford (101 nowadays).

It's an interesting collection. Most run to the east of the City, in a clockwise arc from Leek at the top round to Stone. At the time PMT had other rural routes extending beyond the urban area eg X64 (Hanley to Market Drayton and Shrewsbury, 320 (Hanley to Crewe).

It doesn't represent all the rural area served to the east, nor does it represent all the services operated out of Cheadle garage - that would require inclusion of 234/5/6 Cheadle - Ipstones - Leek (30 nowadays) and, historically, lots of infrequent odds and ends around Cheadle. Cheadle garage had an integral bus station and travel office so could have handled parcels, as could the travel offices at Leek, Hanley and Longton bus stations. No bus office at Stone or Stafford but there was a wide network of agents for excursions and tours.

 

[Mr Manager]

TNT did it with National Express Mid 90's from recollection.

 

[ntypeman]

Love the ingenuity of using the dog tickets!

When my mate was manager at PMT Crewe's depot (who later went on to become PMT's commercial manager he told me this:

" My only recollection of a driver issuing two dog tickets was for a Shetland Pony on the Crewe - Macclesfield service.... [The driver said to me] "I didn't know what to do, boss, so I eyed it up & down and thought, 'it's about the size of two dogs, so I gave it two dog tickets'." "

I jest you not... You couldn't make it up... That was in the late 80's / early 90's...!!!

 

[mjc]

No problem, didn't want to bore people:
106: Longton to Leek (no current equivalent).
232: Hanley to Tean (32 nowadays).
238/238: Cheadle to Uttoxeter via Alton (no current equivalent).
250 series: Hanley - Longton - Stone (no current equivalent).
X23: Keele University - Hanley - Sheffield (16 as far as Buxton nowadays).
X42: Hanley - Longton - Tean - Uttoxeter (no current equivalent to Tean, then 32 from Tean to Uttoxeter nowadays).
X43: Hanley - Longton - Cheadle (IN2 nowadays).
X60/260: Hanley - Stone - Stafford (101 nowadays).

It's an interesting collection. Most run to the east of the City, in a clockwise arc from Leek at the top round to Stone. At the time PMT had other rural routes extending beyond the urban area eg X64 (Hanley to Market Drayton and Shrewsbury, 320 (Hanley to Crewe).

It doesn't represent all the rural area served to the east, nor does it represent all the services operated out of Cheadle garage - that would require inclusion of 234/5/6 Cheadle - Ipstones - Leek (30 nowadays) and, historically, lots of infrequent odds and ends around Cheadle. Cheadle garage had an integral bus station and travel office so could have handled parcels, as could the travel offices at Leek, Hanley and Longton bus stations. No bus office at Stone or Stafford but there was a wide network of agents for excursions and tours.

Thanks, an interesting range of services (and sad that most of them now long lost but that’s another thread!) and odd as you’ve noted that they didn’t operate on other longer services like Crewe or Shrewsbury.

 

[Deerfold]

In the late 90s, route 900 Huddersfield - Ripponden - Hebden Bridge started up, funded 3 times daily (Sundays in Summer only) by the Rural Bus Grant. It diverted up to half a mile off the standard route by phoning the driver and parcels were carried for 50p - they were only carried on that route and you had to tell the driver which stop it would be picked up at - the person picking it up would have to be at the stop to collect it or it ended up having to be collected from the depot.

The route was successful and a few years later the timetable improved to roughly hourly with the Sunday service staying at 3 times a day, but all year. The route no longer diverted and the parcel service ceased. The route is still subsidised, but at far less per journey that when it was introduced.

 

[Simon75]

Thanks, an interesting range of services (and sad that most of them now long lost but that’s another thread!) and odd as you’ve noted that they didn’t operate on other longer services like Crewe or Shrewsbury.

320 Crewe, now 3
X64 Shrewsbury (fully Arriva)

 

[ntypeman]

320 Crewe, now 3

320 ran between Coppenhall & Hanley, later becoming the 20 running from Leighton Hospital / Coppenhall & extended through to Meir Square (I.drove many a Bristol VR on a round trip between my split duty). I think it was then curtailed back to Hanley at some point before becoming the 3 and operating between Crewe Bus Stn & Hanley only...

 

[mjc]

320 Crewe, now 3
X64 Shrewsbury (fully Arriva)

Thanks, aware of those connections but they weren’t ones listed as operating the parcels service which Baxendale provided info on.

 

[BVW]

TNT did it with National Express Mid 90's from recollection.

They did. £1.50 per parcel tag for us drivers.

 

[philthetube]

Burnley and Pendle used to deliver copies of the Colne times to Cowling on a Thursday, I don't think there was any official payment, but three spare copies were handed to the driver which were left in the canteen.

 

[Devon Sunset]

My first job was in the parcel office at Edinburgh bus station in the mid 80's. Large volumes of parcels were carried including bales of tartan going to the borders, live chicks, clothing, motor parts, and even false teeth. At every timetable change the printers delivered all the new timetables to us and we had to send them out to depots, given the volume of packages and the weight this was never popular with drivers. I don't see this ever coming back now as they couldn't compete with courier companies.

 

[Simon75]

Thanks, aware of those connections but they weren’t ones listed as operating the parcels service which Baxendale provided info on.

My apologies, slightly misread.

 

[telstarbox]

Has anyone ever sent an unaccompanied parcel on a bus in modern times? Maybe you'd get away with it in a more rural outpost?