Vehicle authorized for daywork
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• In order to assist with urgent daywork Cleary Contractors Ltd., Solihull, appeared successfully before the West Midland deputy LA, Mr. J. Shufflebotham, in Birmingham on Tuesday with two applications to add four more tippers to its B licence. There were three objectors to one of the applications which had been submitted in August. The latter one made in December for one vehicle was unopposed.
Mr. B. Griffin, a surveyor on Cleary's staff, stated that only two vehicles would be left on the company's C licence if the applications were granted.
He said 95 per cent of the company's work was on contracts such as bulk excavations but periodically vehicles were required for daywork such as redistribution of material at sites for the main contractor. The vehicles would only work on sites where Cleary was already engaged within 50 miles of Solihull. In his experience it was almost impossible to hire vehicles at short notice for jobs of 3-4 days' duration, let alone for a few hours' work. In the last fortnight he had had no success in obtaining vehicles for his Hinkley site.
He estimated the vehicles would have been required for 250-300 hours in the past 8 months. He had no written evidence of his difficulties since the site agent would just ask verbally for assistance at the time the vehicles were required.
For the objectors, Mr. N. Carless asked whether Cleary was asking for four extra vehicles to do work which averaged nine vehicle hours per week. Mr. Griffin explained that the lorries could be spread over five or six sites at one time.
Mr. Carless submitted that the grant should be limited to one vehicle and that an undertaking be given that further vehicles would not be placed on C licence for a reasonable period. Mr. Griffin said he could give this undertaking but only for six months.
Mr. Shufflebotham granted the unopposed application for one vehicle but reduced the second application to one vehicle as well.