Hauliers Need Specialized Help
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THE legal profession is now engaged I in a much needed examination of its structure and practices and some progressive ideas have been canvassed on the lines of "group practices ", whereby a barrister, solicitor, accountant and surveyor would join forces to provide a corporate professional service.
It occurs to me that in the licensing sphere there is room for development on similar lines. Is there not a case for a number of specialist road haulage licensing teams to be brought together? Such a team could send accountancy and traffic experts to a haulier's premises to ensure that accurate supporting documents were produced, and at the public inquiry the evidence could be marshalled much more efficiently than is often now the case.
Expensive Granted, such teams would be expensive—but public inquiries lasting four or more days are expensive, too, particularly when the four days spread over several months, owing to the prior commitments of advocates, witnesses or the LA.
A radical reform of this kind would spare the embarrassment caused when advocates have to ask leave to obtain instructions during an inquiry.
Incidentally, since inquiries are public and more and more documentary "evidence "—if that is the word—piles up. I make the plea that Press men, who record for journals such as this, be given a summary sheet setting out the main details supporting the application and the objection(s). Any member of the public attending a public inquiry would. have the greatest difficulty in following the proceedings when so much of the argument refers to unseen documents.