Licences down
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
THERE was a marginal decrease in new 0 licence applications in the United Kingdom last year, but in Scotland the drop was a dramatic 12 per cent.
Licensing Authorities' reports for the year ending September 30th, 1977, published last week, show that 12,589 new operators' licences were granted. Of the total only 353 were refused and 2,620 went to public inquiry.
There are now 138,000 operators with a total of 480,500 vehicles specified on their licences.
During the year under review there were 335 objections to applications, mainly from local authorities, but the police accounted for seven, and the Transport and General Workers Union for one, leaving 327 town hall objections.
More than half of the local authority objections were from the West Midlands.
Enforcement staffs in both West Midland and Scottish areas were particularly busy, issuing almost 50 per cent of the suspensions, revocations and curtailments on 0 licences.
Bad maintenance was still the main cause of action against an 0 licence and the most widely used penalty was to reduce margins. There were 149,497 vehicles inspected and 23,000 prohibition notices issued.
During the year almost 70,000 hgv licences and 65,000 provisional licences were issued, while 50,000 applicants took the test.