THE adverts in London鈥檚 Evening Standard are enticing. 鈥淓arn in
excess of 拢500 per week,鈥� promises one. Others boast of extravagant
joining bonuses. For anyone with money problems, such as a graduate paying off a
student loan, a job as a motorcycle messenger promises a fast fix.
Even more alluring is the fact that experience is not necessary. Although a
few despatch companies ask for a full and clean motorcycle licence, others have
no qualms about employing learners. It is perfectly legal to take out a
provisional motorcycle licence on your 17th birthday, undergo the compulsory
one-day training and get a job as a despatch rider on the same day.
But if the rewards are high, so too are the risks. The Norwich Union,
Britain鈥檚 leading insurer of motorcyclists, says the number of claims from
motorcycle messengers is five times higher than those from ordinary
motorcyclists. Even this figure is a poor reflection of the true risks, for it
includes claims for thefts. As the Norwich Union acknowledges, despatch riders
who are always using their motorbikes are less likely to have their machines
stolen than commuters who leave them parked in the streets for long periods.
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High accident rates among motorcycle messengers have prompted the Department
of Transport to commission the first official study of the risks of despatch
riding. Over the next few months, the Transport Research Laboratory at
Crowthorne, Berkshire, is carrying out a survey of 3000 motorcyclists鈥�2000
ordinary riders and 1000 messengers鈥攖o compare accidents in the two
groups.
Although despatch riders are familiar figures on the streets of our cities,
delivering the packages and documents that oil the wheels of government and
commerce, very little is known about them. It is an industry operating on the
margins of society. There are no official figures for the number of people who
earn a living as messengers. The riders are casual workers, not full employees
of the companies they work for.
They are not covered by the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The Health
and Safety Commission interpreted the Act in 1993 as not applicable to vehicles
on the public highway鈥攅ven if a job required workers to ride a bike or
drive a car.
The first motorcycle messengers began to appear on the streets twenty years
ago, in the wake of postal strikes in the early 1970s. But the courier business
really took off after 1981, when the government removed the Post Office鈥檚
monopoly on the carriage of parcels worth more than 拢1.
Courier capital
Today, motorcycle messengers are a common sight on the streets of most of
Britain鈥檚 cities. But the highest concentration is in the centre of London, says
Bob Doughty of the Despatch Association, which represents around 100 courier
companies. He says there may be 10 000 riders operating inside the M25 motorway,
although he emphasises that 鈥渢his is a guesstimate鈥�. The government鈥檚 Driver and
Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea says there are 75 000 motorcycles registered
in Greater London. If Doughty鈥檚 estimate is correct, this would mean that more
than 10 per cent of London鈥檚 motorcyclists work as couriers.
However, despatch riders dominate the motorcycle traffic on the roads of
central London during weekdays. About 300 motorcycles an hour pass the east side
of Trafalgar Square during the height of the afternoon, and of these around 80
per cent are messengers.
There are no national figures for the number of road accidents involving
couriers. The standard form that police fill in after a road
accident鈥攌nown as 鈥淪tats 19鈥斥�攈as no space on it for a person鈥檚
occupation. In the government鈥檚 statistics, messengers are lumped together with
all other motorcyclists, from commuters to Hell鈥檚 Angels.
Nevertheless, despatch riders undoubtedly have a very high accident rate.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to do it for long [for it] to have a material effect on the
expectancy of life,鈥� says Andrew Evans, professor of transport safety at
University College London. He believes the dangers are comparable with those in
other high-risk occupations鈥攕uch as deep-sea fishing.
Those dangers are most evident in London. The number of motorcyclists injured
on Britain鈥檚 roads has been falling steadily since 1976, partly because of the
decline in motorcycling and partly because crash helmets have been compulsory
since 1973. But London bucked the trend in 1982, the year after the Post
Office鈥檚 monopoly ended. While motorcycle casualties fell in the rest of the
country, in the capital they jumped by 10 per cent. Today, London has the
greatest concentration of messengers and the highest number of casualties per
motorcycle in the country鈥攖wo to five times as high as anywhere else.
In 1985, a report by Westminster City Council found that although motorcycles
caused 20 per cent of accidents, they made up only 7 per cent of the traffic.
And last year, the City of London Police ran a check on accidents involving
motorcycle messengers. Traffic speeds in the congested streets of the Square
Mile are relatively low, so casualties are rare. Between April and June 1995
there were just five, but two of them were despatch riders.
Throughout Britain, about 8 per cent of motor vehicle
casualties鈥攅xcluding pedestrians and cyclists鈥攁re motorcyclists.
However, according to the London Accident Analysis Unit, which holds accident
records for the 33 London boroughs, that figure rises to about 11 per cent in
outer London, while in inner London it is higher still. In four inner London
boroughs鈥擟amden, Kensington and Chelsea, Islington and
Westminster鈥攎otorcyclists make up more than a quarter of vehicle
casualties, and almost a third in the City of London. 鈥淚f you asked me which
boroughs had the most motorcycle messengers, I would come up with a similar
list,鈥� says John Davenport, who is head of the unit.
Many of the motorcyclists who have accidents in London鈥檚 West End go to the
casualty department at University College Hospital. The University College
London Hospitals Trust says it treated 209 motorcyclists in casualty between
August 1995 and July 1996. Of these, 121 were despatch riders. But, says a
spokesman for the trust, this underestimates the true figure because the
hospital does not record the occupation of every casualty. Staff believe 80 per
cent of the motorcyclists they treat are messengers.
Despatch riders are not only a danger to themselves. Evans says motorcyclists
are involved in a lot of 鈥渢hird-party accidents鈥�. The London Accident Analysis
Unit found that in 1988, motorcycle crashes killed 48 riders and 23
pedestrians.
One of the greatest problems is the loophole in the law that allows
completely inexperienced riders to become couriers鈥攐r deliver pizzas. The
only proviso is that a learner cannot ride a machine with an engine larger than
125 cc. Only motorcyclists are allowed to work on a provisional licence: van
drivers must have a full licence, and drivers of heavy goods vehicles have to
pass a special test.
The Despatch Association鈥檚 code of practice says that 鈥渞iders should be
competent, experienced and in possession of a full driving licence鈥�. Doughty
says the association 鈥渁ctively discourages鈥� learners. However, it only
represents about 100 companies鈥攁 small proportion of the industry.
Learning on the job
David Rogers, the road safety adviser at the Royal Society for the Prevention
of Accidents (RoSPA), says courier companies must provide adequate training for
inexperienced riders. The British Safety Council also recommends that despatch
riders should be 鈥渇ully trained and fully qualified鈥�. Yet few courier companies
provide any training. In Trafalgar Square, up to one in ten despatch riders
carries L plates.
Another obstacle to safety is the way messengers are encouraged to cut
corners and take risks. Despatch riders are paid piecework: the more they work,
the more they earn, so the quicker they can deliver a package, the more work
they get. The best riders can earn up to 拢650 a week, although between
拢350 and 拢400 is more typical, according to Doughty. 鈥淚t all depends
on how hard you work,鈥� he says.
Rogers believes that riders should not have 鈥渢oo many calls so they are
forced to exceed the speed limit鈥�. He points out that many pizza-delivery
companies offer customers their money back if their pizza is cold, and deduct
the cost of the pizza from the rider鈥檚 wages.
In an attempt to curb accidents, the Department of Transport is introducing a
new two-part test for motorcyclists. It will not, however, keep learner
despatch riders off the roads.
The best way to do that, says Evans, would be for the Health and Safety
Commission to change its interpretation of the Health and Safety Act so that it
applied to vehicles. The Health and Safety Executive refused to comment on the
issue of learners becoming despatch riders, though a spokesman says it does not
believe inexperienced workers should operate dangerous machines. 鈥淲e are very
much against that. Training is a fundamental safety feature in the Act.鈥� But
despite the toll of deaths and injuries, the government is showing little
enthusiasm for turning such sentiments into action.
