A. T. Booth to Appeal Against N.W. Authority's Decision
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TWO-VEHICLE LICENCE REVOKED
A FTER an all-day hearing at Man ft on Tuesday, the North Western Licensing Authority, Maj.-Gen. A. F. J. Elmslie, revoked a two-vehicle A licence operated by A. T. Booth (Manchester) Ltd., of Salford, The company had been called before the Authority to show cause why its licence should not be revoked, suspended or curtailed under section 178(1) of the 1960 Act, for not fulfilling a statement of intention or expectation that it would operate its vehicles from a base in Salford but instead had used South Bank, Yorkshire, in the Northern traffic area as a base. The company is to appeal.
At the start of the case the chairman of the company, Mr. Henry L. Walker, asked that the matter be adjourned until a pending Northern-area appeal had been dealt with by the Transport Tribunal, but this request was refused by the Authority, who stressed that the inquiry concerned only the A licence that had been granted to the company in the North Western area in July, 1961.
Maj.-Gen. Elmslie read extracts of the shorthand transcript of an unsuccessful application made by Booth to the Northern Authority, Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, at Durham in July of this year, in which officers of the company had stated that vehicles were carrying steel outwards from Tees-side, using a base in Normanby Road, South Bank.
After this, Mr. Walker, repeating his request for an adjournment, said that "many desperate things must be said to justify what we have done on Tees-side and what we are still doing ". Mr. Walker explained that he had had an interview with a North Western area Ministry official and told him exactly how the vehicles were being operated. There had never been any conflict with the North Western Authority, Mr. Walker continued, and he hoped his name and reputation would satisfy the Authority that nothing had been done that was not necessary.
The North Western case was so mixed up with the Northern area application, which was now the subject of appeal, that the revocation matter must he adjourned, Mr. Walker submitted.
The Licensing Authority again refused this application and warned Mr. Walker that statements made in the court were not necessarily privileged.
Giving evidence, Mr. W. R. Bennett, manager of A. T. Booth (Manchester) Ltd., said that a Mr. Atkinson, a vehicle examiner in the Northern Area, had asked where the two North Western licensed vehicles were, and when told they were out, he said he would stay until midnight
if necessary to inspect them. A prohibition notice had been issued in respect of the vehicles—a fuel-tank cap was missing from one, and there was a minor fault with the sidelight of another. When Mr. Roberts, the N.W. Authority's officer, was told about this incident, Mr. Bennett continued, Mr. Roberts had said that the vehicles belonged to the N.W. area, which had control over them.
The Authority ordered several remarks. made by Mr. Walker to be struck from the official record, and would not allow Mr. Bennett to answer the question put by Mr. Walker: "What chance has any small man to run a transport business today in the Northern traffic area? "
Mr. Bennett, answering questions put by the Authority, said the vehicles had operated from South Bank since he had taken over management in Octoter, 1962.
A director of the company, Mr. W. W; Tulip, then gave evidence and said he had always found Ministry officials to be scrupulously fair.
Mr. Walker then asked: "But do you think Ministry officials have been fair lately? "—but the Authority ruled out the question, He also refused to allow Mr. Tulip to say what sort of life he (Mr. Tulip) had had in the Northern area during the time he had run General Haulage Co. (Lemington) Ltd.
Mr. Tulip agreed that what he had said at Durham about the vehicles being operated from South Bank was correct.
Mr. Walker then called two Northern area traffic examiners and asked them questions about the number of visits they had made to his company. One of them, Mr. C. Cooper, said he had been to a customer of Booth's—South Durham Steel and Iron Co.—inquiring about overloaded vehicles. He had spent two or three weeks compiling a schedule covering all carryings of steel out of South Durham by the Booth vehicles since 1951.
Mr. Walker then produced a letter addressed by the clerk to the Northern authority to the managing director of South Durham, requesting assistance from accounts because investigations were proceeding into the operations of certain vehicles owned by General Haulage Co. (Lemington) Ltd., and A. T. Booth (Manchester) Ltd.
Both traffic examiners told the Authority that in their opinion the vehicles were operating from South Bank.
Giving evidence himself, Mr. Walker said that his original intention had been to renew a long-standing connection between Manchester and the North East. After having a coronary thrombosis which put him out of action for more
than a year, he was astonished to find a terrific demand for long trailers in the Tees-side area. He had understood from his solicitor that the Tribunal had said the operating base was not such an important matter although the Northern L.A. had since said he did not agree with the Tribunal's ruling on this.
Mr. Walker said he had found that long trailers were difficult to get return loaded.
Vehicles of General Haulage (Lemington) Ltd., operated by Mr. Tulip, had been suspended and the position was so acute that he, personally, had given instructions to concentrate on using dualpurpose trailers "to the full maximum ".
After hearing comments during the application at Durham in July, Mr. Walker said he had approached Mr. Roberts of the North Western L.A.'s office and told him "all about what 1 was doing ". If he had been wrong he could not now help it. He felt he had been doing a very necessary and important job. It was almost impossible to get licences in the Northern area, although one thing which had been achieved was that the power of the "big three" (Sunter, Cook and Stevens) had been broken down. It had been demonstrated that the steel haulage in the North of England was not to be in the hands of those three operators.
He had, he continued, the greatest confidence in winning his appeal against the Northern L.A.'s refusal to grant the company a licence. Within a matter of a few weeks, too, the General Haulage (Lemington) vehicles would be able to operate again after the suspension period had expired, he said, and this would enable short trailers to be operated again by Booth and Co., under the exact terms of its licence.
Mr. Walker said that in the Northern area his company had been subjected to more investigations and inquiries than he had ever experienced in almost 40 years in transport. "I had to do something that I have never done in my career. Some five months ago I employed a private investigator to check up and keep tabs on what the Northern Licensing Authority was doing." He had this investigator in court but had not called him to give evidence "in deference to you ".
Maj.-Gen. Elmslie, giving his decision, said he had no alternative in view of the company's declaration and its subsequent behaviour. The revocation would become effective one month after publication in "As and Ds ", unless an appeal was lodged.
IN BRIEF
Direct Service Granted : The Northern Traffic Commissioners have granted permission to four bus companies to operate direct bus services from the North East to Morecambe every Saturday from the beginning of June to the end of September next year. In the past, Morecambe passengers have had to change at Lancaster. The bus firms concerned arc Ribble Motor Services Ltd,, Primrose Coaches (Ryton), Wilkinsons Motor Services Ltd. and Durham District Services Ltd.