Opinions and Queries
Page 59
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New Legislation for Manx Coaches?
A' you may have observed from the Press, a Private Members' Bill is about to be introduced in the Manx Legislature to control licensing and fares in respect of the Island's motor coaches operating on excursions during the summer months. This Bill will, in some respects; be similar to the British Parliament's Road Traffic Act, 1930.
At present motor coach licences here are issued by the various local authorities, and the existing Manx Road Traffic Act controls bus services but not motor coaches. So far as motor coaches are concerned, there is no licensing by routes. Competition between coach owners has led to the necessity of control of licensing and fares, and the Bill is sponsored by the Isle of Man Hackney Owners Association, of which body a high percentage of coach owners (including our company) arc members.
In addition to a garage business our company own motor coaches, all of which are engaged daily on excursions during the summer months, and we are wondering what our position will be if (as may well happen) licences were to be limited consequent on the proposed legislation, which in turn will depend on the views of our Legislature.
It has occurred to us that similar circumstances must have arisen in many holiday resorts in England in the early days of the Road Traffic Act, where in one town, say, a dozen or more operators may have been running identical excursions to the same place, but we do not know how the Traffic Commissioners dealt with such a problem. or distinguished between the claims of the relative applicants for licences.
In Douglas, during the summer, about 40 operators (most of whom have several coaches) run identical tours " Round the Island," also to other places—from stands controlled by the Douglas Corporation—which is a somewhat .similar position to that mentioned in the previous paragraph. Coupled with this it may be added that, except in the busy weeks, it is therefOre not always easy to obtain full loads.
We would, therefore, greatly appreciate any information on the method of granting licences adopted by the Traffic Commissioners in 1930, when many operators may have wanted licences for one particular route.
We do not know if duplicate coaches are allowable in England when there is traffic demand for pleasure trips, and any information on this point or in general will be of the utmost value to us in considering our future policy.
Douglas, isle of Man. W.E.Q.
Finch Hill Motors (1933), Ltd.
[The fundamental principle applied in respect of Road Service Licences first granted under the 1930 Act, was to maintain the status quo position. To this end a date was prescribed prior to the passing of the 1930 Act, and any owner of a passenger vehicle seating not less than eight passengers who desired to continue operating any service on a prescribed route to a particular destination or group of destinations, and desiring to advertise the journeys and carry passengers at separate fares was granted a Road Service Licence on formal evidence that the service was commenced prior to the prescribed date; was still operating and there was some evidence of public need.
The "weeding out" commenced with this process, because certain operators would not accept the responsibility of: (a) regular operation in relation to express services, or (b) proving a public need for excursions and tours on their flimsy evidence of irregular operation.
The process of " weeding" continued in the second licensing period, when evidence was sifted of past operations. In this manner. whilst the obvious fair method of maintaining the status quo position was pursued, a reasonable level was soon secured to prevent both irregular and ad hoc operations, whereby licensed operators were ultimately protected.
This safeguard is one of the first things the operators on the Isle of Man should secure. In the first 'instance no unreasonable restriction was imposed as to the number of vehicles that could be used on any one journey or in any one day, provided always that there was some reasonable
substantiating evidence. Stabilization of this condition was possible in the next licensing period.
Over the years this position obtaining during the transitory period has been stabilized and it is now somewhat difficult to secure permission to operate additional vehicles on a service because of objections from competing interests. Such permission can, however, be obtained, dependent, of course, upon the evidence of public need, but it is still a most important condition of a licence. There are also three other fundamental points to be borne in mind: (1) the need to be able to hire other vehicles for use on the licensed service up to the maximum permitted on the licence; (2) the need at a very early stage to secure full agreement between operators on the fares to be charged, and (3) the need to distinguish between a licensed and unlicensed operation.—En.]
Using a Van as a Private Car
I WOULD be grateful if you would let me have the following information.
If someone, solely on account of the substantially smaller purchase tax, wished to purch'ase and run for private purposes a van instead of a car, are there any difficulties from the point of view of the vehicle licence and insurance? Would the vehicle have to be licensed as " commercial " because it was a van, regardless of the fact that it was being used for private and not commercial motoring? Would the licensing be cheaper than comparable private licensing, or would it have to be licensed as " private " at the i12 10s. rate despite its being a van? Is insurance likely to be more expensive solely on account of it being a van or would this depend on its use or class of licence?
What small van would you particularly recommend as comparing favourably in performance in general, and top cruising speed in particular, plus fuel economy, comfort and appearance, with the smaller cars?
Achnasheen, Ross-shire. J. C. C. JORDAN.
[By Section 7(2) of the Finance Act, 1952, a vehicle of over 12 cwt. unladen weight constructed or adapted for use for the conveyance of goods or burden but which is not used as such for hire or reward, or in connection with a trade or business, is not chargeable as a goods vehicle. The 4th Schedule to the Vehicles (Excise) Act, 1949, should be consulted for the different rates of duty. A private car is now £12 10s, a year and a goods vehicle of 12-16 cwt. the same. Over 16 cwt., however, the duty is £15. As to insurance, it is impossible to quote figures. but there is no reason to suppose that the premiums for such vehicles would differ significantly from those for similar private cars in the event of their being used as such. Many manufacturers base their smaller vans on the cars that they make and their performance as vans is therefore comparable to that of their cars.—ED.]