Motorcycles

New Hudson motorcycle, 1914

BSA solo motorcycle, 1929

Combination motorcycle, 1937

Motorcycle messenger, 1930s

Post Office Garelli Moped

Motorcycle postwoman, 1976

During the early part of the twentieth century, experiments were made in the use of motorcycles. In 1903, a motor tricycle was on trial in London and in about 1910, a postman on a rural service near Watford used a petrol motor auto-wheel device attached to a bicycle.

By 1913, some Post Office staff used private motorcycles for their official duties. They were paid an allowance of three pence a mile for use of the vehicles. The following year, motorcycles were provided by the Post Office on an experimental basis. Twenty heavy motorcycle combinations were bought, comprising ten New Hudsons, six Douglases and four Rovers. They were all single cylinder machines of 3½ horse-power with wicker or metal side-carriers. They were introduced on rural collections and deliveries to replace postmen on horseback. However, between 1914 and 1919 the experiment was suspended, due to wartime petrol rationing.

In 1919, the use of motorcycles by the Post Office was resumed, and more powerful, twin cylinder, machines were introduced. In 1920, another trial with the auto-wheel device, attached to a bicycle, took place in Douglas. The start of the 1920s was the beginning of the Post Office's motor transport scheme, during which it purchased Matchless, Triumph, BSA, Enfield, Douglas, Clyno and Chater Lea motorcycles. BSA was found to be the best for price and quality and acted as supplier to the Post Office for a number of years.

In 1924, light solo motorcycles and light motorcycle combinations were first used experimentally to carry post. The combinations were slightly more expensive to operate but were more satisfactory and by the early 1930s were gradually replacing the solo motorcycles. By 1925, 400 twin cylinder motorcycles were in use, in all types of postal work.

The GPO was slow to adopt solo motorcycles for telegram deliveries, although such machines were used widely in the 1920s for other postal deliveries and telephone work. A committee of enquiry was set up in 1919 to examine telegram delivery arrangements in London and its final report in 1921 proposed a streamlining of delivery arrangements but concluded that there was little scope to use motorcycles except perhaps in the outer districts of London on Sundays, where few delivery offices were open and distances to be transported were much greater than on weekdays. An article in Irish Times in December 1929 highlighted the introduction of 22 motorcycles in Dublin. This led to their use being re-examined in Great Britain with experiments in 1930 using motorcycles borrowed from other departments in London and in Glasgow. Further trials, this time using machines owned by the delivery boys, took place at Bournemouth in 1930 and Cardiff in 1931. Eventually it was concluded that motorcycles would give rise to economy and to an improved delivery service, and an order was placed with BSA for 130 solo 250cc 2.49 h.p. solo motorcycles for delivery in 1933.

Until the 1960s, companies such as BSA and Raleigh supplied motorcycles to the Post Office. In September 1967, fifty Raleigh Supermatic mopeds, modified for Post Office use, were introduced. Earlier trials of mopeds had shown they were suitable for rural collections and deliveries, deliveries on housing estates on the outskirts of towns, patrol and inquiry work and telephone kiosk cleaning. In the 1970s, BSA and Raleigh gave way to makes such as Honda. The Honda VT500 was used from 1988, and the Kawasaki GT500 from 1989. The Honda SH50 City Express moped was used from 1993, mainly for low volume deliveries in towns or rural areas.