City Link has taken the next step in its aim to offer the industry’s most secure parcel delivery network, by fitting security cameras onto its vans.

Each van will have four cameras, two focused on the van doors, one internally in the freight hold area, and one in the ‘driver’s cab’, all continuously monitoring collection and delivery activities.

The sophisticated system can stream images live to City Link’s central control room when required and all images will also be locally recorded so they can be examined later if necessary.

The cameras will continue to work while the van is unattended, acting as a deterrent to anyone who may try to interfere with a van or its contents offering protection for City Link’s Drivers and its Customers goods.

“There are lots of benefits for our Customers,” said Russell Mannix, City Link’s Head of Security. “We can use the information to establish that we loaded a particular parcel onto a van at a Depot and then unloaded it for delivery. This will support and enhance the GPS location information available from our hand-held scanners, which also collect the point of delivery signatures, offering a totally secure solution for our Customers from point of collection to point of delivery.

“If a customer tells us that a parcel has not been delivered we can work out what has happened. The GPS satellite tracking system that we use in conjunction with the VanCam images will show exactly what happened at any point in time”.

“VanCam will clearly play a significant part in reducing loss and claims, the initial pilot was certainly extremely successful.”

During the three-month pilot across a number of Depots there were no losses of parcels, no road accidents or damage to City Link vans nor any personal accidents or Health and Safety incidents.

Following the successful pilot, City Link is now planning to conduct an extended trial with cameras in 50 vans and eventually plans to roll them out across its entire fleet.

“We want to provide as much accountability as we can to our Customers and the VanCam will certainly help us do that,” said Mr Mannix.

“It is a big commitment for the business – it will be a significant investment across the whole fleet that will help us reduce loss and improve the service we offer to our Customers”.

“Van-Cam will also be an extremely effective preventative measure against attacks on Drivers and vehicles, or vehicles being stolen.

“Our Drivers go out there every day in highly visible vehicles carrying valuable goods and we want to offer them the best protection that we can.”

Combining state-of-the-art technology with history and heritage, Royal Mail is launching the world’s first ‘Intelligent Stamp’ through its latest issue of Special Stamps - Great British Railways.

Launched on 3rd September, the stamps are the first in the world to work with image recognition technology, which, when activated by a smartphone on the iPhone or Android platforms, will launch exclusive online content created by Royal Mail.

Philip Parker, Royal Mail Stamps spokesperson says: "This is the first time a national postal service has used this kind of technology on their stamps and we’re very excited to be bringing intelligent stamps to the nation’s post.

"Intelligent stamps mark the next step in the evolution of our stamps, bringing them firmly into the 21st century. Royal Mail’s special stamps mark key events and anniversaries in the UK’s heritage, through a programme which aims to be both educational and informative. Through Intelligent Stamp technology, our stamps will open up to a whole new world of information, interest and fun to collectors and the millions of people who will receive them on letters in the coming months alike."

The first Intelligent Stamp will be issued as part of the Great British Railways special stamps issue. For the launch, Royal Mail has delved into its rich cultural history and created a short film of Bernard Cribbins reading W H Auden’s poem, The Night Mail - first made famous in The Post Office’s own film from 1936.

Bernard Cribbins says: "WH Auden wrote the Night Mail poem in 1936 for the Post Office’s own blockbuster film of the same name, which has, for years, remained in the hearts and minds of many. I’m excited to be bringing it to a brand new audience, and to help take Royal Mail Stamps into a new era by using state of the art interactive technology."

Intelligent stamp technology is free to use and will be available on selected future special stamp issues.

How to use the Intelligent Stamp
Using an intelligent stamp is really simple. All users need to do is go to the app store on their smartphone and search for the JUNAIO application. Junaio works on both iPhone and Android phones. iPhone users will find the app in the iTunes store and Android users need to go to the Android Market. The application is free of charge and you can easily download it to your phone, just as you would any other app.

Once you have downloaded the Junaio application, open it and then go to the Royal Mail Channel and select the Great British Railways logo.

Once this has been activated, the phone will then open its camera. Place the camera over the stamp image as if you were taking a photo of the stamp. When the stamp is recognised, the exclusive Royal Mail content will run automatically.

DPD is has announced that it's call centre has been independently judged to be one of the Top 50 in the UK, for the second consecutive year.

Call Centre Focus magazine awarded DPD this prestigious accolade after a rigorous assessment was carried out by an independent panel of judges, who recognise the best UK-based customer service providers on an annual basis.

The award is recognition of DPD’s strong customer focus and sends out a positive message that when current and potential customers call-up, they will receive exceptional service levels.

DPD CEO, Dwain McDonald, said: “This is a really outstanding achievement. We have only entered this programme twice (in 2009 and 2010), and on both occasions we’ve soared straight into the Top 50.”

DPD’s actual ranking within the Top 50 will be announced at a gala dinner on October 12, 2010, in London.

Disruption to UK air services caused by ash from the Icelandic volcano eruption this spring resulted in Royal Mail narrowly missing its First Class target in the period, according to the company’s latest quality of service report published today.

The majority of other quality targets, however, including Second Class and Standard Parcels, were achieved in the spring.

The latest preliminary figures for the summer months show that First Class mail has again been performing ahead of its 93.0% target.

Royal Mail operates the UK’s largest night-time air charter operation to fly First Class mail travelling longer distances, for example between Scotland and the south of England. Although First Class mail was transferred to road and ferry services during the period of disruption to UK flights in April, there are no alternative distribution routes which ensure next-day delivery.

The performance report for the period from the end of March to early June showed that 92.6% of First Class stamped and franked mail arrived the day after posting - but if it had not been for the air disruption caused by volcanic ash, First Class would have exceeded its 93.0% target.

The report shows Second Class stamped and franked mail exceeded its 98.5% target with a 98.6% performance, along with most business mail services, Standard Parcels and International Delivery for mail posted in the UK for European destinations. First Class bulk mail narrowly missed its target - again as a direct result of disruption to air services.

Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s Managing Director, said: "We’re very determined to keep improving our performance to ensure we consistently hit our targets and our people are very focused on delivering the best possible service at all times for all our customers. "

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.

APC Overnight has taken delivery of 19 new Linde forklift trucks from Linde Creighton, Birmingham, as a major upgrade to its warehouse management fleet. The new forklift fleet comprises 18 Linde H16Ts and one model H20T.

APC Overnight will use the new high-performance, low-emission forklifts at its main UK hub in the midlands and at its Scottish operation in Bellshill, near Glasgow.

The company expects that the new trucks will streamline productivity as its business is booming and the network is expanding. Since its creation, APC Overnight has tripled the size of its next day delivery network and now has 125 depots throughout the UK. Each depot provides a local and personal service to its customers.

“APC Overnight is experiencing tremendous growth and so we have taken the opportunity to invest in new forklifts to boost our handling operations. We are pleased that Linde Creighton has been able to supply us with these advanced forklift trucks locally. We have a long association with Linde Creighton in Birmingham and we have always received excellent service,” said Ivor Skinner, APC Overnight MD.

Linde Creighton – part of the global Linde Group’s Engineering Division – has supplied material handling equipment to APC Overnight for more than 10 years. It will deliver the forklifts on a new five-year contract hire agreement that also includes the daily attention of a Linde service engineer.

For all its forklift truck operators, APC Overnight provides extensive and rigorous in-house training to meet all necessary industry requirements. The company’s team of AITT trained and qualified trainer/examiners deliver the training courses and examine the operators.

“I will continue to strive for innovation across the network to ensure Palletforce is a driving force for the future. ”To be a chartered fellow of the CILT (UK) you need to have at least seven years experience in a high responsibility position in the management of logistics and transport.

Michael more than fits the bill after spending the last two decades at the heart of commercial success stories for some of the world’s leading logistics and transport companies – having worked in leadership roles with TNT, UPS and Parceline.

One of his greatest achievements was being part of a successful management buy-out team that turned overnight parcels firm ANC Group from making a loss of £14million to making a £9million profit in just five years.

In 2006 the healthy business was sold to FedEx for £120million, and Michael remained as Managing Director of FedEx SCS.

Since coming to Palletforce in 2008 Michael has encouraged the company to strive for excellence, gaining three international quality standards ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14001 and a coveted RoSPA Gold Award from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

He has acted boldly to keep the company at the heart of technology and innovations which have improved health and safety and efficiency – covering everything from unique forklift truck scanning systems to specialist double deck trailer designs.

Kevin Shoemake from The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, said: “As the chartered body for all logistics and transport professionals, we are delighted that Michael has met the criteria to become a Chartered Fellow which is the institute's most eminent membership grade and the benchmark of professional excellence within the sector.”

Scotland’s leading independent courier firm has received a major boost to its impressive public sector credentials by winning a new multi-million pound contract.

Eagle Couriers has been awarded a two-year contract with the Scottish public sector, as preferred courier supplier across Edinburgh, the Lothians and South East Scotland.

The agreement was one of six contracts put out to tender by the Scottish public sector – with each covering a different geographic area around the country. Eagle Couriers beat some of the biggest global names in the delivery sector to win the Edinburgh & Lothians contract.

The contract is the latest in a long list of high-profile public sector agreements that Eagle Couriers has won in Scotland and follows successful contracts with the NHS, Local Authorities, the Agency for Legal Deposit Libraries (ALDL) and the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.

Jerry Stewart, director at Eagle Couriers, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to have beaten some of the biggest names in the industry to win this high-profile contract with the Scottih public sector. It’s great to know that public sector courier requirements in the Lothians and South East Scotland will be performed by a local company with long-established roots in the region.

“We have an impressive track record of high-profile public sector work – both in Edinburgh and across the whole of Scotland – endorsing the high-level of professional service we provide. In our 30-year career we’ve carried out thousands of deliveries for major organisations such as the NHS, the BBC and the Scottish Government, and are delighted to be continuing this work with the Scottish public sector.

“We’re very pleased that the Scottish public sector has chosen an independent Scottish company as their preferred supplier.”

The new contract will initially run until 2012, when there will then be the option of extending it for a further two years.

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.

Steve said: “I am delighted to have joined ByBox as I think it’s a fantastic company. What really impressed me was ByBox’ commitment to ensuring the solutions they provide are absolutely top-notch for their customers.

”I believe you really need to listen to your customers, understand their major issues and challenges, then come up with a solution, something unique, that truly adds value to their business.”

Steve started work while still at school, helping out at his father’s firm which manufactured articulated trailers, where he forged his strong work ethic.

After studying Business Studies and Finance at Barnsley College of Technology he joined the family firm and discovered a talent for sales. He went on to have a successful sales career for a series of blue-chip companies.

He lives in Leeds with his wife Vicki and their three children, Ben, aged eight, Ellie, aged five, and baby Maddison. In his spare time he coaches under-nines rugby and enjoys cycling.

ByBox currently holds 70 per cent of the field service support market in the UK, delivering parts pre-8am to a network of 18,000 electronic drop boxes at 1,350 locations ready for engineers to collect, or pre-10am direct to site.

Its recent launch of ByBox Technical Services now extends its supply chain solutions to include stockholding at 35 Forward Stock Locations, a separate network of mini-Forward Stock Locations, a technical courier and engineering service and its own dedicated repair centre.

A firm specialising in bathroom and toilet equipment for the disabled has seen its distribution process totally transformed thanks to supply chain specialists, ByBox.

Total Hygiene, which makes the unique Clos-o-Mat wash and dry toilet, is saving money and ensuring increased productivity after bringing in ByBox to manage its parts distribution.

The company, which first made a WC specifically for disabled people more than 40 years ago, is unique in manufacturing the Clos-o-Mat and now has around 40,000 of the units installed across the UK.

Total Hygiene also supply a comprehensive range of fixed and height adjustable bathroom and toileting equipment for the less able and offers a nationwide, in-house technical team to install, commission and service the products.

With servicing and supply a key element of the business Total Hygiene realised the lack of control on parts ordering, delivery and tracking was a real problem.

Before ByBox Total Hygiene had no specific system for parts delivery or tracking. Engineers would schedule a meet-up to obtain the parts needed for their jobs. But these meet-ups would often take up to half a day and would not necessarily be in a convenient place for the engineers. There was also no tracking of parts so engineers would run out of essential parts before the next scheduled meet-up. And with re-orders taking as long as three weeks this meant delays in attending jobs.

Now Total Hygiene engineers order the parts they need for their next day’s work knowing they will be delivered by 8am the following morning into their nominated iBox. Engineers get a text when their part is at their box to collect ensuring they only need to travel to the box if a part needs picking up. This means the amount of stock on vehicles has been reduced by 25 per cent, saving Total Hygiene money on excess parts. It also means engineers can order stock late if a specific problem crops up and they can complete more jobs because they parts they need are always to hand. The whole process has helped maximise efficiency and productivity and limit waste.

Ian Tomlinson, Commercial Manager for Total Hygiene, said: “Our engineers are more productive, their first time fix rate is high and it has helped us reduce costs by limiting the amount of stock sitting on a van.

“ByBox has transformed our distribution process.”