2003 December

Despatch Association Christmas Dinner. Invited friends of the DA had a slap up Christmas Dinner at Highgate Golf Club in the presence of new president Lord Jopling. Chair Kate Lester spoke of the courier industry, Kevin Walsh of Clockwork Despatch takes on the chairman's role in the spring.

2003 November

NEC Bike show. Couriers at the NEC bike show bagged up their winter bargains with a visit to the NEC. A top MCN prize for Motorcyclist of the Year went to Ken German. Ken of the MET Police has worked for years on bike theft problems and often focused on courier issues and insurance problems. The message of courier jobs was carried at the show by Camelot Courier Training. This year saw more new super bikes than ever before with the launch of a new Fire Blade by Honda, a big green ZX10 by Kawasaki and a new R1 Yamaha.

2003 October

Post Strike. With the Royal mail on a variety of strikes, some London City deliveries stopped for a week, same day bike work went through the roof and couriers got an early Christmas bonus with the extra deliveries.

Top Quality for Courier training. October marked the arrival of ISO 9001 for courier school Camelot Courier Training, long time holders of the IIP awards and a past winner of a National Training Award the ISO standard recognises quality systems. Two first week candidates earned over five hundred pounds in the London post strike week.

2003 September

New computers for Lewis Day. Professional IT implemented the very latest computer systems with real time web internet booking facilities into one of the major London courier firms, Lewis Day. The firm has over 125 computer users to control one of the largest motorcycle courier fleets in London. The system called Freedom marks the latest state of the art real time tracking systems, it features tailored invoices for individual clients with specific reporting. Professional IT boss Steven Smith can be contacted on 08703 802999

2003 July

Couriers at the Guildhall. July 16th marked the Guildhall ceremony to mark carts for use by liverymen in the City of London. The ceremony today finds modern vehicles stamped for City use and 2003 saw a good turn of couriers. The colour brochures carried, GLH, AtoZ and West End Dispatch and listed details of how to become a courier in the City of London with statistics for ten thousand London couriers and five hundred firms.

2003 June

David Jamison, Minister for Transport returned to the National Courier Awards. The Nash room of the Institute of Directors was host for a second year running to the National Courier Awards for a  gala sit down dinner event on the evening of Tuesday 24th June 2002. This year Key note speeches were made from a high tech stage, government minister David Jamison alongside  Steve Norris and 200 guests celebrated courier success at the event sponsored by Camelot Courier Training & Ears Radio. 2003 saw more courier companies than ever before at the awards. A truly magnificent event was praised by all and couriers from across the nation celebrated their success and an industry full of pride. A full list of winners and further details can be found, National Courier Awards.

2003 March

Barry Sheene 1951 - 2003. Sad news reached England on March 10th 2003 of the death of twice world motorcycle champion Barry Sheen. Barry Sheene was a motorcycle household name, despite injuries that included metal plates in both knees he achieved two world titles and was still in the bike spotlight as he covered bike tv from Australia. Age 52 he died from cancer and will be sadly missed.

2003 February

CitySprint acquisition Growth. Andrew Bernard, Chief Exec of London based City Sprint has bagged both Hornets and M&L Couriers to expand to over thirty million pounds of urgent courier deliveries. Hornets based in Hoxton square and M&L from East London were both quality mid sized companies that have pushed the City Sprint turnover up another ten percent.

Bikes will be free from London Congestion Charges starting February 17th. Following a Financial Times report bikes free runs in the London congestion charging area are under review Motorcycle News published a full rebuff. The FT quoted Transport for London 'Pretty much all aspects of the scheme are under review' - Word is all that work MAG did to get free bikes in London stands and courier bikes will pass the big red C road logos without fear.

2003 January

David Jamison, Minister for transport will return to the National Courier Awards for 2003. The Nash room of the Institute of Directors will again be host to the National Courier Awards for another sumptuous gala sit down dinner event on the evening of Tuesday 45th June 2003. Almost 200 guests will celebrated courier success at the event. Judge co-ordinator Tracey Worth is expected to launch names this month for the panel of judges for 2003.

January Snow hits couriers bad in central London, a full day of mid January snow brought bikes couriers in London to a halt but worse was to come. The much colder conditions of the evening of January 30th left a layer of ice under a soft scattering of the white stuff in the City streets that proved a hazard for all wheels. This stopped everyone so bookings were low anyway but the overnight boys trying to get morning deliveries out were worst hit. How long is it to summer?

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