A TRAMWAY-PROTECTION APPEAL IN A NORTHERN AREA
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The General County Omnibus Co., Ltd., Objects to an Impracticable licensing Condition Oo. February 26th Mr. N. A. J. Cohen, representing the Ministry of Transport, heard at Stockton an appeal by the General County Omnibus Co., Ltd., against a condition, endorsed on vehicle licences, to the effect that the vehicles operating between Newcastle and Middlesbrough must' not pick up short-distance passengers between Stockton, Thornaby and Middlesbrough.
Mr. E. S. Herbert, of London, repreSented the General County Omnibus Co., Ltd., the shares of which, it may be mentioned, are owned by the Northern General Transport Co., Ltd. According to Mr. Herbert's statement, the company first applied in January, 1928, for licence facilities in respect of buses for a service from Newcastle to Stockton, eight vehicles being licensed. In July of the same year the company applied for an extension of the service into Middlesbrough. Permission was granted by the licensing authority, subject to the condition that a minimum return fare of Is. be charged. Mr. Herbert stated that the company had not the slightest desire to pick up local traffic on the tramway route between Stockton and Middlesbrough, and was quite prepared to charge a protective fare to safeguard the interests of the tramways. The new condition, namely, that the company should not pick up• passengers between Stockton and the local area comprising Middlesbrough, Thornaby, Eaglescliffe, Yam, Leven, Billingham, Haverton Hill and Port Clarence, was asserted to be illegal, because the driver of a hackney carriage' could nut, under penalty, refuse to pick up a passenger who hailed him. It was also stated that the proposed condition was impracticable, unenforceable and contrary to the policy of the Ministry of Transport and the Home Office.
Mr. Downey, for the corporation, explained that the tramway system was purchased by the corporations of Middlesbrough, Stockton and Thornaby when prices were at their highest, the sum paid being £203,774. The early financial success of the system, after acquisition, was seriously affected by the increasing number of buses on the route. It was found that, despite protective fares, the buses were taking away tramway traffic, and it was imperative that further steps to protect the tramway system should be taken.
In the event of the Ministry of Transport refusing to grant the total prohibition, it was suggested by the town clerk that a minimum fare of is. should be stipulated. The derision of the Ministry will be announced in due course, when it will immediately be published in the columns of this journal.