City-Link in Administration

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I think if I saw a green/yellow van, albeit with a covered over logo, I'd guess its origin/former usage.

 

Perhaps the owners had to sign something to the effect that their vans could only be used by one carrier - might also be residual trade mark issues.

[BG John]

Novel colours for a motorhome conversion. Caravan sites are so boring with everything painted white!

[melmerby]

A serious question? - Why does the van need to be completely repainted at considerable cost to the owner/lessee - surely we can use the system the Americans use for their shortline/leased locos and apply a patch over the logo? Especially until the operator finds more replacement work!

Bus operators in the UK constantly do this.

 

Diamond in the West Midlands often has newly acquired S/H buses in other liveries until they are due for a repaint.

The First group buses taken over in Worcestershire carried on in First livery for ages with just an odd Diamond logo to differentiate them from the genuine First buses still operating alongside them.

In Bromsgrove it was possible to see a genuine First bus on route 144 standing next to Diamond ex-First bus on route 143, both the same livery and type of vehicle.

 

Keith

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Come to think of it, it happens on trains too.....

[railsquid]

In Bromsgrove it was possible to see a genuine First bus on route 144 standing next to Diamond ex-First bus on route 143, both the same livery and type of vehicle.

 

Wot happened to Midland Red? The 144 used to stop outside my house (a bit further down the road from Bromsgrove), mind you they were still running Leyland Nationals, which dates it to a different century.

 

OTOH somewhere I have a photo of a van in Berlin in Deutsche Post livery which due to the angle of the sun was very clearly once a genuine Deutsche Post van but was now "privatised" and in the hands of some poor sod who had been graciously allowed to be self-employed.

[28XX]

Wot happened to Midland Red? The 144 used to stop outside my house (a bit further down the road from Bromsgrove), mind you they were still running Leyland Nationals, which dates it to a different century.

 

OTOH somewhere I have a photo of a van in Berlin in Deutsche Post livery which due to the angle of the sun was very clearly once a genuine Deutsche Post van but was now "privatised" and in the hands of some poor sod who had been graciously allowed to be self-employed.

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company? long gone I'm afraid.

[melmerby]

The Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Company? long gone I'm afraid.

No

 

There are two First bus vehicles running in "BMMO" & "Midland Red" liveries on the 144 route!

http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/You%E2%80%99d-have-to-be-well-over-70-years-old-to-actually-remember-buses-carrying-the-livery-worn-by-First-Midland-Red%E2%80%99s-ALX400.jpg

http://www.stevenknightmedia.com/uploads/6/8/4/2/6842078/8786794_orig.jpg

 

It's the 100th anniversary of the route.

 

Keith

 

PS like the old "Midland" livery although I'm not so sure it sits well on that ALX400!

[martin_wynne]

There are two First bus vehicles running in "BMMO" & "Midland Red" liveries on the 144 route!

http://www.busandcoachbuyer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/You%E2%80%99d-have-to-be-well-over-70-years-old-to-actually-remember-buses-carrying-the-livery-worn-by-First-Midland-Red%E2%80%99s-ALX400.jpg

http://www.stevenknightmedia.com/uploads/6/8/4/2/6842078/8786794_orig.jpg

 

 

It's not a proper Midland Red bus unless the registration letters end in HA.

 

Linked from: http://www.bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/2012/10/17/news-Old-Midland-Red-buses-to-be-celebrated-at-Transport-Museum-52199.html

[melmerby]

It's not a proper Midland Red bus unless the registration letters end in HA.

 

Linked from: http://www.bromsgrovestandard.co.uk/2012/10/17/news-Old-Midland-Red-buses-to-be-celebrated-at-Transport-Museum-52199.html

The earliest Midland Reds didn't.

 

This started life as a Red but ended up as a Blue:

http://www.bammot.org.uk/vehicles/vo9926.asp

 

Keith

 

EDIT

Does this count? http://wmbusphotos.com/FirstMidlandRed/66977.html

 

[Nimbus]

I think if I saw a green/yellow van, albeit with a covered over logo, I'd guess its origin/former usage.

First few times I saw one, I wondered if CityLink was an offshoot of London Country Bus Services. (Really!)

 

The Nim.

[Bernard Lamb]

A serious question? - Why does the van need to be completely repainted at considerable cost to the owner/lessee - surely we can use the system the Americans use for their shortline/leased locos and apply a patch over the logo? Especially until the operator finds more replacement work!

I wonder if the driver is a genuine lessee of the van or whether they are part of a fleet hire scheme where the individual has no say in the outcome.

In which case it could be worse for the individual financially.

Bernard

[gismorail]

I would imagine that the drivers who were not self employed would be agency drivers which is what a lot of companies who are uncertain of the staffing levels required in times of difficulty

[250BOB]

2500 people losing their jobs...........not something that funny to those poor guys I think.

[PhilJ W]

peopel lose their jobs every day..its never good.. It doesnt make it worse cos ther are a few of em all at once

It doesn't make it any better either.

[Black Sheep]

Off topic:

 

Here is another Carrier's contribution to the festivities.

Delivered a day late and severely bashed.

 

 

Off topic also, 

 

If your order is visibly damaged / shows signs of being damaged you should sign for it as damaged - tell the delivery driver that's what you want to do and refuse to sign otherwise. 

 

if you simply sign for it then you are actually signing for it in good condition. 

 

I work with TNT for an online print company and we have 24 hours from point of delivery to inform them it was damaged otherwise the 'signed in good condition' prevents a claim even with evidence to support the damaged claim. 

 

if it's been signed for as damaged then we just need to gather the information (customer tells us) and proceed to claim from TNT while also resolving the issue for the customer. 

 

 

to summarise incase I'm not making sense today:

 

if your delivery is visibly damaged, only sign for it as damaged (writing 'damaged' instead of a signature isn't good enough) and contact the sender as soon as possible

 

if your delivery doesn't appear damaged but items inside are, contact the sender as soon as possible

 

For us, a couple of photos showing both the extent of the damage to the packaging and the extent of the damage to the order really help get things moving quickly. 

[DDolfelin]

Off topic also, 

 

If your order is visibly damaged / shows signs of being damaged you should sign for it as damaged - tell the delivery driver that's what you want to do and refuse to sign otherwise. 

 

if you simply sign for it then you are actually signing for it in good condition. 

 

I work with TNT for an online print company and we have 24 hours from point of delivery to inform them it was damaged otherwise the 'signed in good condition' prevents a claim even with evidence to support the damaged claim. 

 

if it's been signed for as damaged then we just need to gather the information (customer tells us) and proceed to claim from TNT while also resolving the issue for the customer. 

 

 

to summarise incase I'm not making sense today:

 

if your delivery is visibly damaged, only sign for it as damaged (writing 'damaged' instead of a signature isn't good enough) and contact the sender as soon as possible

 

if your delivery doesn't appear damaged but items inside are, contact the sender as soon as possible

 

For us, a couple of photos showing both the extent of the damage to the packaging and the extent of the damage to the order really help get things moving quickly. 

 

Yes - thank you for the thought.

Every package/parcel we receive is signed for 'unexamined'.

[2mmMark]

I might be old fashioned but I firmly hold to the belief that there are industries that should be run as a public service, not simply as a way to make profit.  The obvious ones are railways, energy & water utilities and telecommunications. I also class mail & parcel delivery in that category too.

 

Mark

[Xerces Fobe2]

One potential problem could be that the City Link name is bought by one of the poorer quality couriers that uses the name and provides an inferior service!

[BG John]

I might be old fashioned but I firmly hold to the belief that there are industries that should be run as a public service, not simply as a way to make profit.  The obvious ones are railways, energy & water utilities and telecommunications. I also class mail & parcel delivery in that category too.

 

Mark

 

I'm not sure it's an old fashioned view. We depend on these basic services even more than in the past. I'm not bothered about who owns them, as governments don't have a good track record in these things, but I would like to see them run as social enterprises, or at least run in a socially responsible, not for excess profit way.

[250BOB]

peopel lose their jobs every day..its never good.. It doesnt make it worse cos ther are a few of em all at once

 

Of course it doesn't Mickey......................and the few ( 2500 of them ) all at once on Christmas Day was no worse.........of course it wasn't.?!?!?!

[peanuts]

I might be old fashioned but I firmly hold to the belief that there are industries that should be run as a public service, not simply as a way to make profit.  The obvious ones are railways, energy & water utilities and telecommunications. I also class mail & parcel delivery in that category too.

 

Mark

carefull that all sounds a bit left wing and close to politics for this site tho i do agree 

[The Stationmaster]

I might be old fashioned but I firmly hold to the belief that there are industries that should be run as a public service, not simply as a way to make profit.  The obvious ones are railways, energy & water utilities and telecommunications. I also class mail & parcel delivery in that category too.

 

Mark

It was called 'Royal Mail' as far as parcels etc are concerned and of course going back a good few years there was also a parcel carrier called British Railways - look what has happened to both.

[Graham Walters]

Of course it doesn't Mickey......................and the few ( 2500 of them ) all at once on Christmas Day was no worse.........of course it wasn't.?!?!?!

For a lot of the employees of City Link in multu-cultural Britain it was just another day

[peanuts]

It was called 'Royal Mail' as far as parcels etc are concerned and of course going back a good few years there was also a parcel carrier called British Railways - look what has happened to both.

there was also something called red star parcels that worked realy well then it evolved into something called citylink oh wait................

[Graham Walters]

It was called 'Royal Mail' as far as parcels etc are concerned and of course going back a good few years there was also a parcel carrier called British Railways - look what has happened to both.

 

It is called "Royal Mail" because it was given the royal warrant of accessibility, what has happened to "Royal Mail" is a result of de-regulation, however it is still the largest carrier of parcels and letters in the country, it is the only  carrier that has to guarantee a 6 day a week service to EVERY postal address in the country, no other courier can or will give that guarantee.

 

Where other couriers fail is in rural areas, where the vans have to travel larger distances between calls, rural villages are not profitable for RM either, it is the deliveries in the towns and cities that subsidise the deliveries to rural areas. It's called the "Universal Service Obligation" or USO.

 

OK RM may be the most expensive, but, it is still the best and the most reliable, on a pro rata basis RM lose and damage far less parcels and mail than any other, our compensation is also quicker and better for lost items that were sent next day before 1pm or sent recorded, the "Tracked" system for business is the cheapest and most effective way of sending parcels.

 

I have seen parcels from other couriers left on doorsteps in full view of the street, left to get soaked through in the rain, placed behind bins, thrown over gates etc, if you want your valuable model railway goodies treated like this for the sake of of a couple of quid then carry on using the cowboys like Hermes, if not insist your supplier spends the extra, ( after all you pay for postage), and insist it is delivered by Royal Mail.

 

Hermes for example pay their "couriers" 40p per packet DELIVERED, if they don't deliver it first time they have make three attempts, that is why they treat your packages with contempt, fine if you and the courier live in a town, but if you have a country route, would you want to drive 5 miles to attempt another delivery ?.

Hermes distribution lorries have also been spotted "delivering" parcels to couriers in motorway service stations and supermarket car parks, how secure is that ?

 

There is a reason why things are cheap, usually they are inferior.

 

Rant over