No Withdrawal Without Explanation
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NAR. W. P. JAMES, West Midland Licensing In Authority, last week refused to allow a haulier to withdraw an application for a licence for an unspecified vehicle until he had inquired into the circumstances.
He said he wished to investigate certain aspects of the case that led him to believe 'there had been a sale of a licence, and not of a vehicle. He must be satisfied that there were grounds for withdrawing an application, jut as there were for granting one.
Urtfortunately, the participantsdid not embark in the right way on the change of licence and there had been a great deal of misunderstanding. • Mr. James said he was not greatly concerned about the initial course of selling the vehicle, but he wished to find out what happened, Mr. Parsons agreed with Mr. lames that there had been an attempt to transfer a vehicle to a licence held in respect of another.
The participants pleaded ignorance and Mr. James allowed the application to be withdrawn after receiving assurances that nothing of the kind would happen again, CHEAPER INSURANCE
PREFERENTIAL insurance rates for members of the British Safety Council are being offered by 1. Ransome Bentley (fnsurance), Ltd., Phoenix House. West Street, Brighton, Sussex. The rates apply to employers' liability policies. In addition, insured parties will be' entitled to free use of an accidentprevention service, and free legal representation in petty court proceedings for alleged breaches of the Factories Act.
OBITUARY
\I E regret to record the death th MR. EDWARD RICHARD DAY. Mr. Day was an area traffic superintendent of the Western National Omnibus Co., Ltd., responsible for a large part of Devon and Cornwall.
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Government Advice on Siting Fuel Stations
NOW that the reconstruction of Britain's road system is at last fairly under way, advice from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government on the siting of petrel stations on trunk roadS and the new motorways is at least timely. Local planning authorities have been reminded that the essentials to be considered include the effect of a new station on traffic flow arid road safety, its influence on local amenities, and the satisfactory character of its location, layout and design.
On the first section of the LondonYorkshire motorway, the Ministry of Transport proposes to acquire land for service areas at intervals of approximately 12 miles. They will have access slipways and provision for both refreshment and refuelling. No other frontage development is to be permitted and advertisements on the new roads will be confined to the service areas. • 'fhe Minister of Transport has expressed the view that the absence of a pump supplying a particular brand of fuel would not in itself constitute valid grounds for setting up another station.
Animals Suffered: Driver Fined £25 ACCUSED of causing unnecessary suffering to seven heifers on a journey from Workington to Devon, William Dennis Blackburn, driver, was fined £25, with £8 8s. costs, at Tiverton last week. Fifteen heifers were carried on the journey and on arrival five were dead and two others in bad shape. Half of the remaining animals had to be assisted out of the vehicle.
Mr. R. H. McLusky, prosecuting for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that Blackburn's employer had not been, summoned because it Was not known what instructions had been given to the defendant about stops.
Blackburn had told the police that he encountered snow On the journey.
B.R. ASSURE ARRIVAL
ANEW service to operate between Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee has been introduced by British, Railways. Known as the Assured Arrival service, it will give freight between these centres unloading priority and improved time schedules, so that goods dispatched in the evening will arrive the following morning.
When proved completely efficient in these areas the service will be extended to other centres. A railway spokesman admitted that prejudice amongtraders had to be broken down.
Driver Without Licence Still Insured
IQ ECAUSE of what the defence
described as "an unusual clause" in a company's vehicle insurance policy, Jack Harris, Park House Road, Exeter, was at Ottery St. Mary, Devon, last week, acquitted on a summons of driving when uninsured and his employers of permitting the offence.
On each of two other summonses of exceeding the speed limit and of driving without a licence he was fined £2.
Haftis was stopped for speeding when driving a van belonging to the Bristol Plant Hire Co., Brislington Trading Estate, Bristol, on the A30 road.
RC. Derek Stevens said Harris admitted he had never held a licence, but only a permit to drive Service vehicles when he was in the Royal Marine Commandos in ,946. An insurance certificate produced
by Harris contained a condition that the person driving should hold a licence or have held a licence and was not disqualified.
Mr. R. I. McGahey, defending, said the policy which covered all the company's vehicles contained a proviso that it was valid if it were not within the knowledge of the insured or their representative that the driver did not hold a licence.
This was an unusual clause and one he had not met before. His clients had taken it up with their brokers, who had confirmed that with Harris they would have met any liabilityin the usual manner.
Mr. Eric Stissons, manager of the company's Exeter depot, said Harris was a storeman and fitter's mate. Licences of full-time drivers were regularly inspected, but Harris drove only in emergency and Mr. Stissons believed he had a current licence.
NEW MERSEY TUNNEL NEEDED L'LEVEN schemes for making use of the lower half of the Mersey Tunnel have been rejected by the Mersey Tunnel Joint Committee. The Minister of Transport is now to be asked to discuss the question of traffic congestion in the tunnel with representatives of the joint committee. He will be told that a new tunnel or bridge is urgently needed.
Car Transporter Anomaly
THE Minister of Transport, Mr. Harold
Watkinson, told the House of Commons last week that he was still examining possible ways of removing the anomaly whereby car transporters could be used under general trade licences without the need for A or B licences. He regarded the operation of car transporters Under trade licences as an abuse.
Mr. Ernest Davies (Lab., Enfield East), said transporters were carrying new cars for hire or reward, and that it should not be difficult to close the loophole by way of an amendment to the Finance Bill.
TOURS FOR OLD FOLK
I NCREASING demand for facilities for old people to travel from Sheffield and district to seaside resorts has led Mr. C. G. Littlewood, Sheffield, to apply to the Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners for permission to add a picking-up pointat Rotherham for express services to Eastbourne, Weymouth, Southsea and Torquay.
Mr. Littlewood has opened a new office near Sheffield city centre to make it easier for pensioners to book for concessionary journeys. He has already booked more than 2,000 old people for this year's holidays.
LAST HEARING AT YORK HOUSE E last public sitting in the West Midland Area at York House, Great Charles Street, Birmingham, will be held today. From next Tuesday all public sittings in Birmingham will take place in the new court room at Five Ways House, Islington Row, where the officesof the West Midland Traffic Commissioners and Licensing Authority will be situated as from Monday_
The court room in York House has been used for sittings ever since the inception of the Road Traffic Act, 1930.
CHECK ON STOP LIGHTS
D1SCUSSIONS have been conducted between the Ministry of Transport and the motor industry on the intensity of stop lights. As a result, a maximum intensity has been included in the standard of recOmmended practice recently issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturersand Traders. Greyhound -Try Blown
. Mack Coach
ANEW Mack 39-seat luxury coach was recently put into experimental service by the Greyhound coach concern when their new central headquarters at Niles,
U.S.A., was opened.
The coach is 40 ft. long, 8 ft. wide, and 11 ft. high, and all the seats are raised well above the normal floor line to give passengers maximum visibility. The centre aisle is on the same level as the seat floors, thereby eliminating a stepdown from the seats.
The windscreen and rear windows wrap round and most of the roof is glazed. Full air-conditioning is incorporated.
Power is supplied by a Mack Thermodyne 255 b.h.p. turbocharged oil engine and Mack Airglide air suspension is installed.
Greyhound are obviously testing the new coach with a view to deciding upon replacements for the 997 G.M.C. Scenicruisers at present in use. Up to now Greyhound buses and coaches have been almost exclusively of G.M.C. manufacture, and the orders for new vehicles will probably total about £6,1m.
FURNITURE VAN TO CARRY CUSTOMERS
ANEW furniture van built for Dundee Express Deliveries has comfortable passenger accommodation so that customers may travel in the vehicle. The cab has space for six passengers, and there are two heaters and a generOus area of glazing. Load capacity is 1,100 cu ft. and a translucent roof is fitted.
The body was built by Messrs. A. C. McLennan, Perth, to the company's own specification. Taybridge Garage, Ltd., supplied the Austin 5-tort chassis.
NO GRANTS TO STATES THE Indian Government have informed all State governments that national financial assistance, whether by loans or grants, is not to be made to transport undertakings owned or managed by State governments departmentally unless they are incorporated as companies. The Indian Inter-State Transport Commission are to co-ordinate and regulate transport between States.