Haulier and Clearing House: Licences Refused
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Members of the Road Haulage Association, with the railway companies, successfully opposed an application to the Yorkshire Licensing Authority, at Leeds, last week, by the Black and White Transport Co., for licences for six further vehicles to be acquired. The Licensing Authority (Mr. J. Farndale) refused this application, but he granted A licences for six vehicles in possession.
Mr. J. S. Archbold, manager of the concern, said that it constantly kept on hire as many as 55 vehicles a day, and had hired casually up to 70 vehicles a day. The turnover last year was about £30,000, and already this year the company had paid into the bank 44,000 more than for the corresponding period of last year. The company had 700 clients on its books. Six new vehicles were required to reduce the amount of hiring that had to be done 1128 and to improve the existing fleet. The tonnage which the concern had on the road on June 25 was 148.
Cross-examined, Mr. Archbold said he was manager of Archbold and Co., transport contractor, Leeds, in addition to the Black and White undertaking‘and he stated that the partners in the concerns were the same. He denied that Archbold and Co. really carried on the business of a clearing house, and that the hauliers who
worked for it did so at cut rates. The concern undertook to perform complete transport tasks, and employed haulage contractors to do the work. He agreed that the haulage business and the clearing house were the same.
For the R.H.A. and the railway companies it was argued that the application was by a concern of clearinghouse agents which wanted a licence to acquire vehicles to which it was not entitled.
For the applicant it was stated that, even if a considerable quantity of the haulage done by the Black and White Transport Co. was due to Archbold and Co., the business of the former was such that it required the hiring of 14 vehicles daily.
After announcing his decision, the Licensing Authority agreed to state his reasons in the event of an appeal.