REHEARING NEEDED
Page 13
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AFTER Mr. T. H. Campbell Wardlaw, representing Robinson's Luxury Tours Ltd., of Barrow-in-Furness, had stated that a hearing before the Northern Licensing Authority "had gone. off the rails," the Tribunal on Wednesday ordered the case to be reheard. Robinson's was appealing against the decision of the Authority to refuse them a variation of their A licence—an addition of six vehicles. Opposing the appeal were the B.T.C. and T. Brady.
Mr. Campbell Wardlaw said that at the hearing, the cross-examination of a witness for the applicant had been interrupted to enable another witness to give his evidence. Later a submission was made that there was no case to answer, this submission being made before the first witness had been re-examined. Also, while documentary evidence was on the file produced by the B.T.C., no witness gave evidence for the Commission, and the applicant had no chance to crossexamine.
"It seems clear to me, that for one reason or another, this inquiry went off the rails. I am told the hour was late and many people had long distances to go home. Personal factors may have had some bearing on it. It remains a fact that the applicant had no opportunity to crossexamine witnesses from the B.T.C. on figures seen by the Authority," he said.
In remitting the case to the L.A., the Tribunal hoped the deputy would rehear it because he would not have seen the B.T.C. figures.