76 years of service came to and end last Saturday when West Coast Motors delivered their last load of mail to Mid-Argyll and Campbeltown from Glasgow. Royal Mail have decided to operate the contract in-house using their own vehicles but with existing West Coast staff transferring to them under current TUPE (transfer of undertakings for personal employment) regulations.
In 1935, the late William Craig persuaded the Post Office, as they were known at the time, to award the company a contract for the carriage of mail by road overnight, as opposed to the previous system of coming by steamer from the Broomielaw on steamers Davaar and Dalriada on alternate days with an arrival time of mid-afternoon in the town with deliveries stretching into the evenings.
A further ground breaking development came a year later when he obtained permission from them to carry the daily newspapers along with the mail, conditional on the mail having priority and a reduction in cost passed on. This was unusual in itself as the PO were paranoid about security and normally would never have countenanced anything other than mail in the same van. This arrangement lasted until the mid 1990’s when the contract for the carriage of Islay mail was also awarded to West Coast with the van having to catch the early ferry at 7.00am at Kennacraig which meant that it couldn’t wait for the English newspaper titles to come up to Glasgow, so reluctantly that part of the operation had to be given up.
Colin Craig, current MD and grandson of the originator of the system, said it was a very sad day to lose the contract after so many years of good service to Royal Mail especially in the present economic climate when all sources of income were under pressure, but the overall effect would be more sentimental than financial on the company as it was by now a fairly small part of the overall operations.
He also paid tribute to the “first class” drivers down through the years who had operated the service as well as the maintenance staff who had kept the vehicles reliable and well serviced, to such an extent that they could count on their one hand the number of times the mail had failed to get through and on time to a fairly tight running schedule. He added, “We are particularly pleased that after a lot of persuasion, Royal Mail agreed to meet their obligation to take on current affected staff which will safeguard their immediate and future employment with them”.
Pictured below is what is believed to be the first custom built van to accommodate the mail and newspapers in 1936, and driver Kenny Mitchell with the current van after un-loading for the last time last Saturday.
