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Spinks granted two-year licence
Page 32
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RHA objection fails
• The Transport Tribunal, granting the substance of an appeal by Spinks Interfreight Ltd, Darlington, has directed that the company should be allowed its licence for 45 vehicles, 80 trailers and a margin of five vehicles and eight trailers, but limited to a currency of two years.
The Road Haulage Association had objected to the application (and was a respondent) on the grounds that the applicant was not a fit "person" — a reference to the fact that two of the applicant's directors had been directors of companies one of which was in the hands of a receiver and allegedly owed substantial sums to numerous creditors.
The RHA also argued that maintenance facilities would be prejudiced through insufficient finance. The Northern LA refused the application.
Tracing the steps by which "a disastrous end", with estimated deficiencies of around £1.75m, came to three companies — Spinks Transport, Amalgamated Transport Services, and Allisons — in 1971, the Tribunal concluded that this resulted primarily from attempts to get the financially unsound Allisons (acquired in 1969 by Amalga mated) on its feet and not through incompetence in running Spinks Transport.
The Tribunal could not agree that the past record of the two directors concerned, Mr W. G. Spink and Mr R. Preece, was such that they could not reasonably be expected to conduct an adequately financed haulage business properly and profitably. The applicant company (Spinks Interfreight Ltd) appeared to have adequate finance, provided by a single shareholder, Mr C. Attwood.
Final judgment on the causes of the financial failure of the businesses with which the two directors had been associated could not be known until the liquidator's report was available at the end of this year. The Tribunal felt it would be avoiding its obligations if it waited until then before ruling on the appeal and, since the applicant was being regarded as a newcomer, the Tribunal intended to take advantage of Section 67 of 1968 Act to allow a probationer's licence of two years' duration. When the LA came to consider any renewal, he would not only have two years' experience of the new company to judge by, but also the full report from the liquidator of the other companies.