Commissioner Upholds Removals Charge
Page 23
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UPHOLDING a charge of £62, made by Brewer and Turnbull, Ltd., The Depository, 105a, Hornby Road, Blackpool, for the removal of furniture from Blackpool to Crediton, Devon, the acting Transport Commissioner for the North-western Region (Major F. S. Eastwood) has dismissed an application which was made under the Road Haulage and Hire (Charges) Order, for revision of the charge. The application was referred to Major Eastwood by the Transport Commissioner for the Southwestern Region.
The summary given in the announcement of Major Eastwood's decision says that the applicant considered that a fair and reasonable charge for the removal would have been £45. He based this opinion on a £25 estimate, made by . the respondent carrier, for a prospective removal of his furiaiture from Blackpool to Reading in January, 1941, and added 20 per cent, for the additional mileage to Exeter, plus 50 per cent for increase in costs. .
The carrier stated that the furniture moved weighed 5 tons, add it had to withdraw its largest vehicle from other work to accommodate it. The furniture had to be collected from two stores, and six men were fully employed for a day loading the furniture. The day of loading was Easter Monday, for which special wage rates were payable. In accordance with the applicant's instructions, in addition to the actual removal other 'goods were taken to a sale room and a chest was held over for crating and ultimate delivery to Crediton, but included in the total charge of £62. The carrier did not succeed in obtaining a return load until Innesworth, near Gloucester, was reached, where 3 tons. of equipment for delivery to Kirkham were secured: total charge £4 19s. A driver and second man made the journey.
The carrier contended that the-furniture in respect of which it submitted an estimate for a removal from Blackpool to Reading could have been moved in a standard van, whereas the goods actually moved consisted of the
majority of the goods referred to in the original quotation for the Reading removal, plus furniture of the applicant's father, and required a large-capacity van of over 1,200 cubic ft. It would have been possible to obtain a remunerative return load from London in connection with the Reading removal. According to the carrier, the. approximate charge for a similar removal, undertaken in October, 1940, would have been £60.
In his conclusions, Major Eastwood states:' I have considered the facts of the case in consultation with assessors from the Traders and Hauliers' Panels constituted by the Minister of War Transport finder the Order, and I am satisfied that the charge of £62 made by the carrier is not unreasonable.
"I am of the opinion that the applicant has failed to make out the prima facie case for the revision of the charge and I have, therefore, decided to dismiss the application."