Chas. Poulter inquiry concluded
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• In London on Friday the Metropolitan Licensing Authority concluded his inquiry into the application by Chesford Haulage Ltd., of London, El , to take over licences at present held by Charles Poulter Ltd., also of London, El The LA, Mr. D. I. R. Muir, reserved his decision, which will be given in writing.
This was the fourth day of the twice-adjourned hearing. Chesford is seeking
licences for 78 vehicles on A licence conditioned "general goods Great Britain" and 11 vehicles on B licence conditioned "within 30 miles of base". The previous days' hearings were reported in CM of September 19, October 3 and October 10.
Friday was given over to evidence by Mr. Sally Davis, joint shareholder with his son Mr.
Ron Davis in Poulter, cross-examination of Mr. Davis by Mr. R. M. Yorke (for the National Freight Corporation) and submissions by counsel for the NFC, Mr. Davis and the Poulter company, and the applicants.
The morning began with the LA announcing that he proposed to amend a ruling he had
earlier given (CM October 3) concerning the
locus of NFC to object. He had then allowed them to continue their objection and to widen their ambit of cross-examination. On Friday he said that now he had had time to consider further, he had come to the conclusion they had no statutory right to object and this should have been made clear to them at the time they lodged their objection. They could, however, seek leave to make representations to him.
"If therefore the NFC and my office had done what they should have done the position would not have been substantially different from what it is now and Mr. Yorke would have been permitted to do what he has," said the LA. He therefore proposed to treat Mr. Yorke as making representations and to treat his earlier cross-examinations in that light.
Mr. Michael Beckman, appearing to watch over the interests of Poulter and of Mr. Sally Davis, then addressed the LA, calling Mr.
Yorke's chain of inquiry "virtually an attack on Poulters and Sally Davis". The NFC objection was just a sham to pursue their own interests, he alleged. Mr. Muir said he felt the bogus NFC objection had been put in by error, Mr.
Yorke interjected that it was a mistake, Mr.
Beckman continued: "Use what words you like, it speaks for itself, I do object to the permission you have granted and the ambits you have granted to them. it opens the floodgates to people who want to attack the bona fides of any particular company."
It was almost midday before Mr. Davis was called to give his evidence. He said the so-called Davis Group were his brothers' firms. He and his son were the directors of Poulter, who had separate premises. There was no connection with the other Davis companies in the group.
In 1967, he offered Poulter first to British Road Services for sale, then to Buttons (St.
Helens/ Ltd., and then to Transport Development Group. Nobody wanted to buy the company.
He said he was at cross-purposes with his brothers about the cross-liability document signed for the Anglo-Israel Bank. Questioned about Poulter's name appearing on the document he said: "I am sorry to this day that I signed that legal charge." It concerned only Poulter's property, and unlike the other companies.. mentioned in that document, Poulter's had not had a receiver put in by the bank.
The bulk of Mr. Yorke's cross-examination of Mr. Davis concerned signatures on the bank's legal charge document, the suitability of Mr. Joseph Young (principal shareholder in Chesford) and Mr. Davis's own relationship with Mr. Young and Chesford.
"Is the sale of Chesford a free gift?", asked Mr. Yorke—"You must be joking", replied Mr. Davis.
"It's making £30,000 a year and you're selling it for a payment of £10,000 a year which can come out of the profits?"—"I don't know."
"Is the reason you are selling it on the terms that you are, that in fact the new company is controlled by you?"—"I've never heard anything so utterly ridiculous," Mr. Davis insisted that he wanted to get out of haulage altogether and that was why he was selling, He was not selling the shares in Poulter and was just going to wait for the money to come in over the next 10 years through the annual payments from Chesford under the vending agreement. This allowed for a selling price of £110,500 with one-tenth down and the remainder in equal annual payments at 1 per cent above Bank Rate.
In his final submission Mr. Yorke described the case as "unique in licensing history" because there were so many questions about it which shrieked for an answer they did not get. He drew the LA's attention to the submission of Mr. D. Hunter (for the bank) reported in CM October 3. "The gravamen of my submission is that the 'someone' behind this is Mr. Solly Davis or his son," said Mr. Yorke. He urged that the proper course was to adjourn any decision until after an Old Bailey case involving Mr. Davis and the Poulter company had been heard, and his information was that that would be on January 6, next.
Objectors withdraw following negotiations
* The Yorkshire deputy LA, Mr. Maxwell Gosnay, at Bridlington on Tuesday, granted an application by Anlaby Road Transport (Hull) Ltd., to take over the business of Anlaby Road Transport.
Mr. A. R. Howe, a director, said he had attended a Road and Rail Negotiating Cornmittee where the objectors to the application, Wake Bros. (Haulage) Ltd., Lovell's Transport Ltd., East and West Coast Transport Co. Ltd., Key Warehousing and Transport Co. Ltd., BRS Ltd. and British Railways had agreed to withdraw subject to modified terms in the firm's application.