Milk float
However, in recent years, as the number of supermarkets, small independent grocers and petrol stations, and convenience stores stocking fresh milk has increased, many people have switched from regular home delivery to obtaining fresh milk from these other sources.
While there was previously an exemption in the law meaning those making local deliveries were not required to wear seat belts, which would in theory have included drivers and passengers in milk floats with seat belts fitted, the law was changed in 2005 to deliveries less than 50 metres (160 ft) apart.
In 1940, Brush required some small electric tractor units, but as none were commercially available, they asked AE Morrison and Sons to produce a design for one.
They expanded to producing battery electric road vehicles in 1945,[4] when they bought designs and manufacturing rights from Metrovick.
All of their road vehicles were sold through the motor trade, in order to achieve a good standard of after-sales service.
[7] Production of 4-wheeled battery electrics ceased in 1950, although the company continued to manufacture the 3-wheeled Brush Pony, and their range of industrial trucks.
Most were industrial trucks, but the transfer also included the Brush Pony, and a number were manufactured at Tredegar subsequently.
Included in the sale was the Graiseley marque, and this was used for a range of three-wheeled battery-electric pedestrian controlled milk trucks.
[16] Harbilt electric vehicles were initially produced by the Market Harborough Construction Company, which was formed in 1935 as a manufacturer of aircraft components.
[20] At some point in the early 1970s, prior to 1974, Harbilt and Morrison-Electricars reached an agreement for a product exchange and rationalisation.
[24] They were one of the first companies to provide storage for dry goods on their vehicles, and demonstrated a type AER 4-wheeled float with a grocery box behind the cab at the 1955 Dairy Show.
[25] Their exhibits at the 1958 Dairy Show included a standard 1,300 kg (25 cwt) milk float with a walk-through cab and a vertical steering wheel.
[27] Both Express Dairies and the London Co-operative Society had large fleets of the Electruk Rider, and continued to add to them with purchases of the E15.
[33] By 1943, Midland Electric were producing five models, which could be fitted with various types of bodywork, including a flat-bed truck for coal deliveries.
[34] They produced a new 500 kg (10 cwt) lightweight design in 1949, which featured an all-welded chassis with an integral body frame.
[37] Morrison-Electricars had their origins in the 1890s in Leicester, when AE Morrison began producing bicycles, motorcycles and stationary engines.
In 1972, British Leyland sold their share of the business to Hawker Siddeley, better known for aircraft manufacture, and the company became Crompton Electricars Ltd.[22] The Board of Trade refused to allow Morrisons to move to new premises in Leicester, because of a lack of skilled labour in the area, and instead offered to build them a new factory in a development area, so the manufacturing base moved to Tredegar, south Wales, in 1968.
They were soon making three models of bonneted van,[43] but in 1931, produced a forward control vehicle with a walk-through cab for the dairy industry.
Mervyn Morris designed an electric vehicle, and the first milk float was sold to Roddington Dairy in early 1951.
In 1941, Morrison-Electricar standardised three types of body which would become the basis for thousands of milk floats built after the war to deliver goods to the recovering population.
[58] Today, with rounds expanding in coverage to ensure profitability in the face of falling levels of patronage, the limited range and speed of electric milk floats have resulted in many being replaced by diesel-powered converted vans.
