Q I am already in business as a haulier and
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following several requests from existing customers to take on household removal! would like your advice on the possibility of my extending my licence conditions to include such operation. I would add that some of my former customers have left the area, so leaving spare vehicle capacity.
ARegarding spare capacity on your vehicle,
while the delay in waiting for a variation of your licence can be considerable, this need not necessarily be so. We suggest you approach the Licensing Authority in your area and explain the circumstances. Tell him that you have lost the specified number of customers and ask that he considers a variation to your licence deleting the named customers involved and substituting the other customers who apparently are now prepared to pass their work to you. The Licensing Authority would, of course, require to be satisfied that these customers were, in fact, prepared to engage you and he may wish to hear them state their intention at a public inquiry.
The fact that you have numerous firms ringing you for casual work indicates that there is a demand for your services in the area. It would be helpful if you record the phone calls and other requests given to you personally, showing when the request was made, the radius within which you would be required to work and the name of the company making the request. Such information could then be produced when appropriate to the Licensing Authority in support of a variation to your existing licence conditions.
Regarding household removals, you would be unable to carry out such work without it being specified on your licence. Such a condition is most difficult to obtain as in every case the Licensing Authority requires proof of need. While it would not serve as absolute proof of need, the record of requests just recommended could also be submitted as evidence when you seek a variation in your existing licence conditions.
However, it must be borne in mind that if you are at present unable to do a removal on request then the intending customer is obviously going to have the work carried out by another removal contractor. So to make the evidence conclusive you would need to show proof that the removal could have been done by you if you had been so licensed at the time requested by the customer, and that it had not been done at that time by the contractor who eventually carried out the work. This would prove that while you yourself had this capacity there was in fact a need for additional removal services in your area if customers' requirements were to be satisfied.
But regarding variations in your licence to include household removals, you would, of course, receive objections from established removal contractors in your area. It is always most difficult to prove need for this particular type of traffic. While the suggested record of unfulfilled requests would be of assistance, it should not be taken for granted that this alone would be sufficient to satisfy the Licensing Authority.
For example, it could very well be that you were being contacted in the first instance before the intending customer had had the opportunity to contact established removal contractors in your area.