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212 
A THROUGH-BUS-SERVICE INQUIRY.
Page 128
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An Appeal against a Decision of the West Hartlepool Corporation.
THE institution' of through services to overcome delays -occasioned by interconnecting arrangements resulted in an important Ministry of Transport Inquiry, which was held at West Hartlepool on May 9th, The inquiry was conducted by .Mr. It. H. Tollerton and had reference to an appeal lodged by the Northern'ifeneral Transport Co., Ltd., of Chester-le-Street, against the refusal of the West Hartlepool Cor poration to m licences in respect to 15 buses to be used for a through service between that town and Sunderland, in co-operation with the United Automobile Services, Ltd. The company was represented by .Mr. E. S. Herbert, and Mr. H. Stanton town clerk, appeared on behalf of the local authority.
Mr. Herbert said that a peculiar feature of the case was that the granting of these 'licences would not result in any increase in the number of motor vehicles working in, the town. Two years ago the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., began to Operate buses between Sunderland and Easington Colliery, and, at. that time, the United Automobile_ Services, Ltd., was running buses between West Hartlepool mid Easington Village. This meant that passengers wishing to travel between West Hartlepool and Wearside had to change at Easington Colliery or Easington D54 A few months ago the two undertakings agreed that it would be in the interests of the travelling public to institute joint through services instead of each company working half the route and thereby enforcing travellers to make an intermediate change. The effect would be to have precisely the same number of vehicles on the road as before. Accordingly, in January, the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd., placed an application before the local watch committee asking for licences for 20 machines. This request gained the approval of the committee, but was turned down by the full body of the town council. Thereafter, the company put forward an application in respect to 15 vehicles and again the watch committee gave the request its blessing, but once more the corporation declined to grant the application.
Messrs. Longhorn and Sons were said to have been granted, at this time, certain licences for the whole or part of the route, thereby actually increasing the volume of truffle on the road, whereas it was stated that the Northern General Transport Co.'s proposal would not do so.
When the application was submitted a third time the town clerk wrote intimating that the company could regard the refusal as definite. The company thereupon appealed to the Ministry. The appellant made it clear, Mr. Her bert added, that if the 15 licences were granted United Automobile Services, Ltd., was quite prepared to surrender a similar number of licences. Mr. Stanton' for the corporation, submitted that the present service was sufficient for existing needs. The arrangement between the two big companies, he continued, had no validity and might cease to operate.
The hackney carriages inspector, Mr. W. Straughan, said that the licences held by the other undertakings were allocated as follow :—United Automobile Services, Ltd., 45; Eastern Express Motors, 30; and Messrs. Longhorn and Sons, 3. In answer to the town clerk he said that if the proposal were carried into effect, instead of Sunderland passengers having to change at Easington, passengers to Durham would have to do so, and the only way that factor could be prevented would be by the running of extra buses.
At the conclusion of the inquiry Mr. Tollerton said that there was much to be said in favour of the proposal, but there was some uncertainty about it. If effect were given to the proposal one • of two things must happen. Either the United Automobile Services, Ltd., must withdraw its Durham service, and so make passengers change at Easington, or, if this undertaking were continued, there would be an additional service.