:vidence Needed on Take—over Bids: Metropolitan L.A.'s Statement
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/HAT evidence is necessary to substantiate applications to take over the (HAT
of an existing licence-holder? The Metropolitan Licensing .thority, Mr. D. 1. R. Muir, had much to say on this subject in a reserved :ision, issued on Wednesday, on an application by Ringray Ltd. for a vehicle A licence.
fhe Ringray bid was made under Section 173(1)(c) of the 1960 Road Traffic t, for the purpose oftaking over the existing licence and business of Downs irehouse and Storage Ltd. This company passed into a the hands of receivers January 16 last, and Ringray had agreed to purchase the goodwill and assets Downs subject to grant of an A licence. Mr. Muir decided to grant eight A-licensed vehicles the licence to end on le 30, 1967, with normal user as declared.
note the assurances given to me: le Stringers Motors Ltd. will pur: the whole of the share capital of ray; (b) that Ringray will, if they c takeup the licence, apply for .nge of base to Pinchin Street, E.C.3, a substitution of vehicles; (c) that ray are only concerned with what consider to be the existing business.
re
al also quire to be shown, one from the date of the grant, a certistatement of the turnover of the any customer by customer con:d the L.A.
Fplicants for take-over licences had nurses open to them, said Mr. Muir. was to apply for a new licence under an 172 of the 1960 Act, with an to surrender the existing licence, the course was to apply under Section )(c) for a licence in the same terms rid to end on the same date as, the held by the taken-over concern. choose the latter course (as Ringray ensured that statutory objectors d not be present. It could not poshave been the intention of Parliathat such an applicant would have realer burden to discharge than an cant under Section 172. rely, argued Mr. Muir, there was a rs on the Section 173(1)(c) applicant Aablish that his future operations possibly I not be of concern to other
ers. other words, it had to be n that the only change would be in itie of the operator. The new applimust step into the shoes of the
as in the Ringray case, support for pplication came from customers who not customers of the seller, the cation at once became a matter of irn to other hauliers. Such cusrs might well be the customers of ng licensed hauliers, and if their Less is proposed to be abstracted the Lory objection could be set up. the Ringray ease, said Mr. Muir, he satisfied that the application was gly made under Section 173(I)(c), but that it was still his duty to consider the application as one to which ordinary considerations applied. He quoted, in support of this view, the Leslie v L.N.E.R. and L.M.S. appeal (Traffic Cases 24, p. 183). It was, therefore, his duty to consider bow many vehicles Ringray needed, said the Authority. He added that he proposed to disregard the turnover statement produced during the hearing, which statement was based on the Downs ledgers, ecause of its manifest unreliability ". Discussing the evidence Ile had considered at the three-day hearing, Mr. Muir said he caused the application to be heard in public because there was cause for suspicion that a licence authorizing 12 vehicles was being passed from hand to hand and treated as a negotiable asset, and that money was being paid for it. Since a carrier's licence could not be transferred or assigned, it possessed no monetary value. The L.A. therefore had a duty to satisfy himself, in a Section 173(1)(c) application, that a business existed which could be bought by the applicant. If that business were in the hands of receivers, it did not in any way lessen the need for a strict scrutiny but, rather, enhanced it.
Later in his decision, Mr. Muir said he a
was satisfied business did exist under the name of Downs Warehouse and Storage Ltd. It was, however, by no means easy to determine precisely its extent or nature. There was considerable evidence to the effect that moneys which should have been shown in the• Downs ledgers were diverted elsewhere.
One of the receivers said that he was of the opinion that £10,000 had been embezzled. On the other hand, such was the confusion in the operation of the various businesses in the Downs group that he could not be sure that the work shown in the Downs ledgers was done exclusively by the Downs vehicles on A licence and Contract A licence.
The other matter which caused him
serious concern, said Mr. Muir, was that an investigation had proved conclusively that evidence had been "deliberately manufactured in order to deceive me."
Acquitting Mr. Johnstone (acting for one of the receivers) and Mr. R. Cropper (a traffic consultant who prepared the application) of intent to deceive him, the Authority said: "I think, however, that greater care should have been exercised." Having established that a business existed, went on Mr. Muir, he then had to establish whether Ringray, a newcomer, was suitable to receive a licenc: and whether to give credence to assurances given during the hearing. He had been told that if a licence were granted, Stringers Motors Ltd. would exercise financial and administrative control and Warners Transport Ltd., an East Anglian company, would be managing agents. He was satisfied that Stringers' general reliability, could not be questioned, and that Warners had the experience and knowledge to manage the business successfully.
Haulage Workers' Pay
From our Industrial Correspondent ARN1NGS for road haulage workers are above the average for industry as whole. But they must work Jonge: hours for them, according to figures published in the latest issue of the Ministry of Labour Gazette. he figures show that the average pay packet for road haulage contracting(except British Road Services) amounted to £1.6 11.5. 4d. a week in April 1963,,, compared with an average for all indutry of £16 3s. Id. For this a worker had to put in a weekly average of 55.4 hour;, compared with 46.9 hours for the country as a whole. • In fact, only one industry --cement making—had a longer workinv week than road haulage, with 55.9 hours.
The Gazette figures are general averages and represent the actual earnings, inclusive of payments for overtime, night-work, etc. Road passenger transport (except London Transport) is well down the list with £14 1 Is. 5d, for a 48-7-hour week. But women conductors on provincial buses come out
bu pretty well.. They earned
average verage £12 Os, Id., compared with the average for women employed fulltime of only £8 as. 9d.
Rootes Leasing Plan rOMMER and Karrier. commercial ‘--'vehicles ranging from 1.1.-ton vans to 12-ton tractive units may be leased on a system of monthly payments, with no deposit or initial outlay, under a scheme announced today by the Rootes Group. It will be operated by Rootes Acceptances Ltd. and the Astley Leasing Co. Ltd.; leasing facilities will be available through all Routes Group dealers. Special terms are to be given on transactions involving more than L5,000, and replacement facilities are such that vehicles becoming obsolete may be replaced on favourable terms. The rentals are subject to tax relief. A5