A reader of the Hull Daily Mail sent this memory from the early days of newspaper delivery - when wagons started doing the rounds in Yorkshire.

One hundred years ago, on Monday September 7, 1903, the Mail and Times newspapers took delivery of their first motor van.

According to a report in the Mail at the time, the van started life in the Driffield area, delivering newspapers to the agents.

Motor vans were a rare sight in 1903 - in fact there were only about 60 cars in the Hull and East Riding area.

It was no surprise, therefore, that the villagers of Foston on the Wolds 'exhibited much interest in the horseless carriage, and busy housewives with sleeves rolled back, left their washtubs to watch our progress'. At Langtoft, described as 'the village of floods', the kiddies fairly bombarded us, and nothing would satisfy them but a ride.

The Mail's new vehicle was a nine horse-power, single-cylinder Vipen delivery van, supplied by the East Riding Cycle and Motor Works based at the corner of Grosvenor Street and Trafalgar Street, Hull.

Henry Lavaggi, of French-Italian decent, was the man responsible for Vipen cars. He was one of Hull's first motoring entrepreneurs. From 1898 onwards, he purchased the out-of-date models of the French motor manufacturers De Dion, Aster and Clement. He shipped them to Hull in chassis form, fitted bodies and sold the cars as Vipens.

In order to obtain showroom and workshop facilities Lavaggi took over the established East Riding Cycle Company. Quite a number of three and four-wheel Vipens were sold during the firm's six-year existence. A motor-cycle was also produced.

Unsurprisingly, many Vipens ended up in the hands of locals. Well-known owners included Alfred Gelder, Dr Fullerton, Sir Arthur Atkinson and Oswald Lambert.

The Mail's van became AT 53 when registration numbers were introduced at the beginning of 1904. It was registered on January 1 to Frederick Grotrian, the Mail's proprietor at the time. He lived at Ingmanthorpe Hall, Wetherby.

The vehicle had an unladen weight of 15 cwts. A description of the van in the motor car register reads: 'Van body, upper portion painted black, lower portion blue with broad yellow band between, having person's name in red letters with blue shading'.

The van was later sold to Edward Farr who traded as Hull Parcel Express Company from premises in George Street, Hull.

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