E.Y.M.S. Appeal for Double Fares on Christmas Day
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OBJECTIONS were again made by two local authorities when East Yorkshire Motor Services, Ltd., appealed at Hull, last week, against the Yorkshire Licensing Authority's refusal to permit them to charge double fares on Christmas Day on services outside the Hull city boundary. The local authorities, Haltemprice Urban District Council and Beverley Borough Council, also objected to the original application.
Mr. Bailey, for the objectors, said that the trouble arose through Hull Transport Department being in financial difficulties. The appellants, he alleged, did not think of double fares until Hull started the snowball.
Whilst agreeing that there must be co-ordination between two operators in the area, Mr. Bailey did not believe that there was ground for continuing the co-ordination through to Beverley. Once the snowball of charging double fares on Christmas Day started, there was no knowing where it 'would stop, he said.
Mr. W. R. Hargrave, for E.Y.M.S., said that in October, 1952, a similar application, made jointly by Hull Corporation and the company, was refused. It was recommended in the Licensing Authority's report that a similar application in respect of trolleybuses should also be refused, but the Minister of Transport granted it.
.The Minister's decision could not be, and was not, carried out, for it would have made trolleybus fares higher than those on motorbuses, said Mr. Hargrave. The Minister attempted to reduce the degree of frustration in 1953, when Hull Corporation and E.Y.M.S. were each granted permission to charge double fares on Christmas Day within the city boundary.
Last November, his clients applied for a renewal and modification of their licences to make the charges applicable on services just outside the city.
This was the first occasion they had been able to appeal to the Minister for a review, Mr. Hargrave said. Neither trolleybus nor motorbus fares were lifted. As the position was, it would simply not work.
Operated at a Loss
Christmas Day services were operated by E.Y.M.S. at a loss, he said, but the real purpose of the application was to get rid of the anomalies. The Licensing Authority had said that an extension of the principle of double fares on Christmas Day would not remove the anomalies already created.
"They realize that something ought to be done about it, but don't know how to tackle it," commented Mr. Hargrave. "We have imposed on us a bad fare table—and this fare table, at the moment, is in no-man's-land."
Mr. A. N. C. Shelley, the Ministry of Transport inspector who heard the appeal, will report to the Minister.