Contravened Licence to Prevent Colliery Closing, Say Hauliers
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AFTER being told that a Coventry haulage company had contravened the terms of their coritract-A licence to save a colliery from going out of production, Mr. W. P. James, West Midland Licensing Authority, adjourned an inquiry at Birmingham, last week, so that National Coal Board witnesses could attend. The inquiry concerned Maurice James and Co., Ltd., Mile Lane, Coventry, who were called upon to ,show why their contract-A licence should not be suspended or revoked, following convictions in May for misuse of vehicles.
At that time, the company admitted carrying coal for the N.C.B. and A. Brockhurst and Co. when the vehicles were on contract to Stephenson, Clarke and Co. There were several summonses, and they were fined a total of £20.
At last week's hearing, Mr. J. R. C. Samuel-Gibbon, for the company, said it was not a case Of persistent illegalities in the face of repeated warnings. All the coal could have been carried quite legally if only the right vehicles had been used. Instead, during two hectic periods, Blicence vehicles did work which was covered by the contract licence, and the contract vehicles carried loads which the B licences catered for.
Why Proceedings Arose James' carried nothing which they were
not licensed to carry. However, the proceedings arose because the contract vehicles took coal for the N.C.R. from Bagworth Colliery, Leics' to Water Orton, near Birmingham, and for Brockhurst's from Water Orton to Highcroft Hall Hospital, Birmingham.
Bagworth Colliery was one of those " unhappy places where the N.C.B. had great difficulty in selling the coal. As a result, all the available rail wagons were filled, and the stocking grounds at the pit were choked up. Unless further facilities for stocking could be found production at the colliery would have had to cease. To avoid that, James' agreed to haul coal to their own 'stocking ground at Water Orton, 20 miles away.
The quantities increased " at bewilderingly short notice," and the situation got a little , out of hand. Officials at the colliery began giving drivers their own instructions about what coal was to be carried.
Coal Supplies Irregular s Dealing with the haulage for Brockhurst's, Mr. Samuel-Gibbon said it involved a run of only 2i miles from the railway yard to the hospital. James' were supposed to carry 3,500 tons a year to the hospital for Brockhurses, and all would have been well if the coal had arrived at the rate of 70 tons a week. But it was irregular, and when large quantities arrived by rail James' wanted to shift it to the hospital as quickly as possible.
This was unpopular work because it involved hand loading, and James' felt that they could not leave it all to their Blicence drivers, so the contract vehicles were called in.
In evidence, Mr. Leonard Maurice James said the arrangement with Brockburst's was an experimental one which would not be renewed. Mr. J. L. Redhead, James' manager, recalled that on one occasion he went to Bagworth Colliery and found tat production had actually stopped, so he allowed contractA vehicles to carry coal to get the N.C.B. out of difficulty.
The Licensing Authority: And you landed your own firm in far more serious difficulties?
Mr. Redhead: Yes, sir.
He added that on another occasion he found that the hospital had only four hours' stock of coal left. He thought it essential that they should not be left without supplies.
The hearing was adjourned until next Monday.
EIRE TOUR STOPPED BY MINISTER
ON appeal by the Thames Valley Traction Co., Ltd., the Minister of Transport has deleted a tour to Eire from a licence granted to Reliance Motor Services (Newbury), Ltd., by the South Eastern Traffic Commissioners (The Commercial Motor, July 4). The tour was one of a group starting from Thatcham.
In his decision the Minister has followed the recommendation of Sir Hugh Dow, who heard the appeal. He says the Commissioners should have waited to see the results of the extended tour to Eire recently licensed to Thames Valley before allowing another operator to run a similar tour from an adjacent district.
Any abstraction of traffic might be serious for that company. The evidence of inconvenience in joining the Thames Valley tour at Oxford didnot outweigh the question of abstraction.
The Commissioners may defer the deletion of the tour if its immediate removal would cause hardship to passengers who have already booked.
200 TONS TO GERMANY
SOME 200 tons of plant for mixing asphalt have been delivered from Yorkshire and Cambridge to Western Germany by Evan Cook's Depositories, Ltd., Peckham, London. The machinery will be used for the construction of an airfield.
Some loads had to be lifted by crane into the hold of the Transport Ferry Service's "Empire Celtic" because they were too big to be driven on to the vessel. The plant will return to Britain in a few months.