Minister Rules . Out Past History
Page 57
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ON appeal, the Minister of Transport has upheld the South Eastern Traffic Commissioners' refusal to take into account historical arguments raised by B. S. Williams, Ltd., Emsworth, Hants. The company appealed against the Commissioners' grant to Southdown Motor Services, Ltd.. of 11 express services and three groups of excursions and tours from Portsmouth and Southsea formerly licensed to Triumph Coaches, Ltd.
[Mr. B. S. Williams formerly owned the shares of Triumph Coaches. That company was later acquired by another operator after a receiver had been appointed and he subsequently sold the business to Southdown, the present owners (The Commercial Motor, November 6, 1959).] B. S. Williams, Ltd., based their arguments on the circumstances of the winding-up of Hants and Sussex Motor Services (owned by Mr. Williams) in 1954-55 and the sale of Triumph Coaches, and on alleged illegal operations by various bus companies, including Southdown, from 1951-53.
The appellant claimed that the Commissioners should adjourn the hearing of the Southdown applications until they could be taken along with competing applications by B. S. Williams, Ltd. It was also contended that, having heard the Southdown applications, the Commissioners should not reach a decision until later. If, however, they did so, they should refuse the applications. The Commissioners not only rejected all these claims, but refused to hear more evidence on these lines.
The Minister has decided that the Commissioners acted entirely properly in deciding that the arguments by B. S. Williams, Ltd., were irrelevant. The evidence favoured Southdown and there was no relevant evidence to rebut it. The Commissioners were, in the Minister's view, right not to defer their decision or to refuse the applications. The appeal is dismissed.
The Minister adds that a change in the ownership of a company operating a licensed service is .a matter which, in appropriate circumstances, may be relevant to the Commissioners' decision on an application for a new licence to continue the service.