Change of Base and Licence Refused
Page 33
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WHEN Mr. P. V Dobson, of Levens, near Kendal, applied to the Northern Licensing Authority, last week, for an A licence for one vehicle, it was stated that he had acquired the business of an Ulverston haulier who had carried under B licence chiefly for a Barrow miller. The applicant proposed to continue the work without alteration other than a change of base from Ulverston to Levens, a distance of about 20 miles.
Three Kendal hauliers lodged objections on the ground that if Mr. Dobson ever ceased to rely on the mill work, their interests would be endangered by the presence of another A-licence vehicle in their area, where, they maintained, existing facilities were adequate.
Mr. H. W. Mawson, for the applicant, said that it was essential to be able to accept return loads. One objector said that Mr Dobson, being 20 miles away, could not hope to retain the mill business against competition from Barrow and Ulverston contractors.
The Authority refused the application. Had it been a proposal for a straight take-over with the base main tained at Ulverston, there would have been no objection, he stated; If Mr.
Dobson applied for a licence for a base at Ulverston it would be granted. Alternatively, a B licence, with a base at Levens, would be considered.
WORK FOR EXPERTS ONLY
THE repair of chassis frames by welding should be undertaken only by experts. This was one of the main points made by Mr. C. F. Cunningham during the discussion on his paper, "Chassis Frame Construction and Repair," read before the Institute of Road Transport Engineers, in London, last week. He added that where frames were constructed by welding, difficulties were accentuated by the grave risk of distortion, and it was preferable to replace them. Old frames should not be normalized.
A member suggested that frame fractures were caused by makers skimping sections to get below the 3-ton limit for 30 m.p.h. vehicles. The author replied that, on the average, chassis frames were good, but allowance could not be made for exceptional stressing by overloading or running over bad surfaces for which the vehicles were not designed.
Another member referred to a lightvan chasiis in which new placing of the shock absorbers had caused frame trouble, and he asked whether fishplates could be welded on. The reply was that this could be done, but only by an expert.
Another query referred to the use of flexible sub-frames; the reply was that these were not generally popular, mainly because of the extra weight involved.
It was suggested that frames might, with advantage, be made more flexible where very rigid bodies had to be fitted; this was partly admitted by the lecturer, but he said it would not do to make them too flexible.