Ribble Strongly Criticized Before Commissioners: Principle Opposed
Page 53
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
STRONG Criticism of Ribble Motor Services, Ltd., was made by Mr. J. C. Backhouse, before the North Western Traffic Commissioners at Morecambe last week. The combo/1y were making application to take up and set down excursion passengers in Clarence Street, following their take-over of a number of local excursion licences in 1958.
A concern of Ribble's reputation should have made closer inquiries regarding land available for picking-up and settingdown when purchasing another business, said Mr. Backhouse, for the objectors.
The Commissioners were told by Mr. F. D. Walker, for Ribble, that when a licence was purchased from Florence Motors (Morecambe), Ltd., in 1958, a picking-up point on private• land. in Clarence Street was specified.
It was found that there was no such facility, and when a site was obtained, planning permission had been refused by the Morecambe and Heysham Corporation. Dispensation had been granted to pick up on the highway while negotiations were taking place. but this was withdrawn in August, 1959.
The corporation were objecting to the application in the capacity of highway authority, not as operators, said Mr. R. Rose, town clerk. The corporation had consistently contended that excursion coaches should not be allowed to pick up or set down on the highway, except at authorized stands. If Ribble were allowed to do so, other operators would want similar facilities.
Mr. Walker stated that Ribble opposed such a principle. The corporation had not pressed such objections against Morecambe operators. The police raised no objection, and it ,was surprising that Ribble's observations had shown that corporation buses parked in Clarence Street day by day.
Before Ribble took over the Florence licence, passengers had not been picked up in Clarence Street since the war, stated Mr. T. S. Ireland, chairman, Morecambe Coach Operators' Association, and a director of Tower Coaches, Ltd.
Ribble had also opened a booking office at Central • Pier, which contravened an agreement between the corporation and the association. Following this, receipts of Tower Coaches had dropped by 25 per cent, as the new booking office was ideally situated to abstract traffic from other operators.
The question of private land was wrapped in mystery, said Mr. F. Williamson, chairman, but he was satisfied that it was in use in 1937. It was possible that the Commissioners might make a grant limiting the use of Clarence Street to one or two vehicles at any one time, and then only at certain times of the day. They would prefer, however, for Ribble to find another adjacent point off the highway. .