 BOX
VEHICLES
CRANES
ESTATE
CARS
FLAT
BEDS, DROP SIDES, TILTS & COVERED WAGONS
HOISTS
(PLATFORMS, ELEVATING)
LAND
ROVERS
LIGHT VANS (OVER 9 CWT)
MINOR VANS (UP TO 9 CWT)
POLE
ERECTION UNITS
RADIO INTERFERENCE VEHICLES
SALOON CARS
SPECIALIST
VEHICLES
TRACTORS
TRACTOR/MOTIVE
UNITS
TRAILERS
WORKSHOPS,
DEPOTS AND STUDD St. STORES
RAW LIST OF VEHICLES
ARTICLE FROM COMMERCIAL MOTOR
MAGAZINE
MECHANICAL AIDS
Whilst the original GPO telephone vehicle livery colour was
green, the Road Haulage fleet of the Motor Transport Department were
painted red when they merged with the Stores Department fleet in the
mid 1950's. The Road haulage fleet was formed in 1946 when the
railway companies requested cessation of stores by rail due to
shortage of storage capacity.
The rest of the fleet before 1969 were coloured:-
Telephones - Mid Bronze Green, BS381C shade 223.
Postal - Pillar Box Red, BS381C shade 538.
In 1969 the Post Office was separated into two businesses and both
colours changed to:-
Telephones - Golden Yellow, BS381C shade 356.
Postal - Service Red, BS381C shade 539.
The Telecoms fleet had already adopted Yellow as the livery colour
by the GPO Board on 13th May 1968. One reason for the change
was road safety concerns due to the dark green livery.
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Most of the pictures in the vehicle section are
provided courtesy of the GPO, the Post Office and British Telecommunications
PLC.
These pages cover only Engineering Department vehicles.
If you cannot find the vehicle in the obvious section, then try the
Specialist section.
Many of the pictures were taken around Olympic Way, Wembley, London (next to
what was Wembley Stadium) - so look out for the Art Deco buildings, as
they should be seen and not how they look today!
All the information and pictures available to us are on this site. For more information on GPO/PO/BT vehicles
and to purchase books please go to the Post
Office Vehicle Club web site.
Many thanks must go to Bill Aldridge for his assistance
on these pages as he has provided much of the captions and explanatory
text.
Until the Post Office split in 1969 records were available that tied
number plates to vehicle serial numbers. After 1969 the local ears
would register the vehicles and cross referencing is difficult.
In 1971 the engineering department changed the serial system to a nine
digit system. The first two numbers represented the year, the next
three numbers the type code and the last four numbers the actual vehicle
serial number.
In 1975 the livery was changed to 'POST OFFICE TELECOMMUNICATION' in red
double-line lettering on small vans and in 1978 it was adopted for
large vehicles as well.
In 1980 the vehicle livery changed to blue lettering based on the
stylised 'T Symbol' and large 'TELECOM' lettering.
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