The Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL Mercedes-Benz is opening a new chapter in drive technology for light commercial vehicles. Thanks to its emission-free drive system, the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-CELL is ideally suitable for inner-city operations and for particularly environmentally sensitive areas. The Vito E-CELL operates with no emissions and almost silently, and imposes no restrictions on the operator in terms of load capacity and payload. Read More...

Courier and Parcel Logistics Expo Courier and Parcel Logistics Expo is the world's leading exhibition dedicated to the technology and services for the global express and parcel delivery services sector. The event offers visitors, conference delegates and exhibitors an unrivalled networking opportunity within the international express logistics industry. Read More...

Royal Mail today welcomed a report by Postcomm confirming the accuracy of the quality of service figures published by the company. Postcomm had looked into claims over the way quality of service was measured in a few areas of the UK. A Royal Mail spokesman said: “It’s essential customers can have full confidence in the quality of service figures we publish and we’re pleased Postcomm’s report has confirmed the accuracy of the published data, which is based on the independent measurement of tens of thousands of test letters sent every month. “Postcomm’s 18-month investigation was extremely thorough. Although Postcomm found certain areas where we have been able to strengthen our systems, it found the actual quality of service figures had not been affected in any material way, there was no impact on customers and there had been no financial benefit to Royal Mail.”

RoadSafe is urging transport minister Mike Penning, to maintain the MOT test as an annual check up for vehicles. In 2008, the Department for Transport said the MOT failure rate was high, at 35%. Between 2009 and 10, the failure rate continued its steady increase to 37%. Despite this, the DfT is looking into reducing the required frequency of tests to fall in line with Europe.

In the UK, vehicles must have their first test within three years of registration, and annual tests thereafter. As a minimum, EU law requires vehicles to have their first test when they are four years old and subsequent tests every two years. Most European countries follow the EU minimum requirement and there is pressure on the UK to do the same. RoadSafe is warning that this will lead to more crashes, caused by poorly maintained vehicles. Testers in the UK identify 8.5 million cars with defects every year. In its own review of the MOT in 2008, the DfT said reducing the test’s frequency would significantly increase the number of unroadworthy cars and casualties.

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City Link, has secured a contract with Johnston Prams and Buggies.The company’s Belfast Depot will oversee all Johnston’s distribution needs to shops and online customers throughout the UK.
Johnston Prams is a leading supplier of Jané prams, buggies, carry cots and car seats to leading retailers such as Mothercare, Toys R Us and Kiddicare. Johnston Prams chose City Link to take care of all its distribution requirements nationally on the back of the delivery Company’s excellent service levels and reputation for Customer care.

This summer City Link fended off competition from transport companies across the country to win the Customer Care Award a part of the annual Motor Transport Awards – hailed the major industry event of the year. Jonny Allen, Sales Supervisor at Johnston Prams and Buggies, said: “City Link approached us offering a fantastic all-round package of service, tracking, cost, online facilities and many options to suit our expanding needs.” “This totally outweighed anything offered by our previous express parcels carrier. The sales team were happy and flexible with their resources to tailor things to our requirements. We are very pleased to be working with City Link and look forward to a long and happy partnership.”

Howard Wilson, General Manager of City Link’s Belfast Depot, said: “We are delighted to work with Johnston Prams and Buggies. The company has an excellent reputation as one of the country’s leading pram and buggy suppliers and we are delighted to be a part of the team.”
Based at Nutts Corner, Crumlin, County Antrim, the City Link Belfast Depot employs a team of 35 to meet the distribution needs of over 300 Customers throughout Belfast and Northern Ireland each week.

Andrew Bernard, Chairman of CitySprint, the UK’s largest privately owned SameDay Distribution company with a ServiceCentre in THAMES VALLEY and HEATHROW, recently sponsored Paul Landsman from LGV Capital Ltd, and four of his old university friends, to take part in the Deloitte ’Ride Across Britain’ event which took place from the 12th – 20th June 2010.

The ‘Ride Across Britain’ involved cycling the length of Great Britain from John O’Groats to Lands End in 9 days, covering 1,008 miles. This meant that Paul and his team, who were also sponsored by Unilever, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Legal & General, spent over 8 hours in the saddle everyday, cycling on average more than 110 miles per day! The ‘Ride Across Britain’ was the first ever mass John O’ Groats to Lands End cycle event with over 550 people taking part and was headed up by double Olympic Gold medallist James Cracknell.

As well as sponsoring the team, Andrew provided Paul with one of CitySprint’s leading edge GPS enabled mobile data units called a CityTrakker. The CityTrakkers, which are carried by each of CitySprint’s couriers, transmit real time information about the location of the person carrying the CityTrakker and are usually used to enable CitySprint, and its customers, to view the location of a courier at any given time. In this instance, the CityTrakker enabled friends, family and sponsors to ‘track’ the progress of Paul and the team in real time and see where they were and how they were getting on via the teams dedicated website

After completing the ‘Ride Across Britain’ Paul commented “Despite battling 45mph winds and rain on arrival in John O'Groats and negotiating some of the most infamous road hills in the UK, our aching limbs, swollen joints and saddle sores were all worth it as we managed to raise in excess of £26,000 for the charity WellChild (www.wellchild.org.uk) which helps sick children and their families across the UK to overcome the challenges that they face on a daily basis due to complex medical issues.

Paul continued “The journey was extremely challenging for us…the fact that our friends, family and sponsors could see where we were at all times thanks to CitySprint’s CityTrakker was fantastic and spurred us on even more as we knew they could see how far along the route we were!”
CitySprint Chairman Andrew Bernard commented “I have known Paul for many years and would like to congratulate him and his team for successfully completing this challenging event and raising such an outstanding amount of money for such a deserving charity”.

More information about the Deloitte ‘Ride Across Britain’ can be found by visiting ride a cross Britain

An award-winning manager with an impressive record in sales has joined ByBox, the UK market leader in in-night parts distribution and field service solutions.

Steve Whitehead, aged 38, has been appointed as a Business Development Manager for Field Support to boost ByBox’ expansion, generating sales and identify new business opportunities.

Named Business Development Manager of the Year in the 2007 National Sales Awards sponsored by The Times newspaper, he previously worked for Vodafone as a Corporate Acquisition Manager.

With more than 20 years’ experience in the IT/telecommunications, finance and business equipment industries, he shares ByBox’ approach of working collaboratively with clients to fully understand their needs.

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Michael Conroy, Chief Executive Officer of Palletforce PLC, has been awarded a prestigious fellowship from The Chartered Institute of Logistics.

He was appointed CEO at Palletforce, the UK’s leading palletised distribution network, two years ago and has overseen the major growth and development of the network. Despite a crippling recession Palletforce has grown and developed rapidly, including the opening of one of Europe’s largest distribution hubs to the tune of £30million in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.

Throughout this expansion period Michael has been at the forefront, leading with the inspiration and energy he has built up a reputation for.

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Online gift retailer Firebox.com has teamed up with leading courier company OCS Worldwide to offer a same day evening delivery service to all its customers in Greater London and within the M25. Via the new delivery service, orders placed before 4pm will be delivered between 6-11pm the same day. Orders placed after 4pm will be dispatched the following working day for delivery in the evening, and orders placed over the weekend will be delivered on Monday evening. The trackable order must be signed for.

Following a series of successful trials over the busy Christmas months in 2009, Firebox is now rolling out the service throughout the year. Customers who need a gift urgently but do not have time to go out to the shops can order online by 4pm Monday to Friday and receive their parcel in the comfort of their own home later on that day. OCS use their own fleet of drivers for the entire process in order to ensure a superior delivery experience for Firebox customers. The service is also convenient for those ordering heavy or bulky goods: rather than carrying items home from work, customers now have the option to have them delivered in the evening, at home.

Christian Robinson, Managing Director of Firebox.com, comments, “An increasing number of our customers work lengthy hours and commute long distances. We want to make their shopping experience as fast, convenient and hassle-free as possible and believe this service will help enormously.”