S.M.T. has Status in Traffic Courts, says Mr. Quin
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• WHEN the Scottish Motor Traction vir Co., Ltd., applied, last week, to the Scottish Licensing Authority for a licence to operate Continental tours, Messrs. Cotters Tours, Glasgow, cbjected on the ground that the S.M.T. was not entitled to present the application. Since the company was acquired by the British Transport Commission, it was stated, its organization had been taken over by Scottish Omnibuses, Ltd. ' Mr. N. A. Sloan, for the objectors, said that the S.M.T. was only a holding company in process of being wound up.
• He submitted that as the tours would not be run by the applicant. the application should properly be made by the company concerned.
Mr. R. P. Morison, K.C., for the applicant, said that the winding-up of S.M.T. was not yet complete. Until it were, Scottish Omnibuses, Ltd., had acquired the right to use the name of S.M.T. and was the proper applicant.
After an adjournment, the Licensing Authority, Mr. W. F. Quin, stated that he had been assured that the company existed as an entity, and held licences. As there was no precise information as to the relation with Scottish Omnibuses, Ltd., the application was in order.
The application was dismissed on lack of evidence of need. .A,similar argument occurred the next day, when the S.M.T. was an objector to an' application to run Continental tours by Messrs. Cotters. For the applicants, Mr. D. Mackay said that unless the S.M.T. were operating Continental tours before nationalization, it had no power under the Transport Act to operate outside Great Britain, Mr. Quin, after another adjournment, ruled that the &MIT. Was an entity and licence-holder, so that there was no legitimate ground for complaint about its Statui as an objector. On the matter of the• powers of the B.T.C., he and his colleagues had no opinion, but did not think it relevant.
The decision in this case was reserved pending hearings of similar applications by the Western S.M.T. Co., Ltd., and Northern Roadways, Ltd.
"In looking at the evidence," commented Mr. Quin, ".1 think we regret that there is no organization such as we have on the goods side, to which applicants and objectorS can go and discuss whethersome compromise can be reached." He was referring to the roadrail negotiating committees.
A special sitting will be held to announce the Licensing Authority's decisions on the three companies' applications.