Vehicle Shortage Undermining Service
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SHORTAGE of vehicles was seriously undermining the quality of the smalls" service offered by J. Brevitt Ltd., of Willenhall. it was claimed at Birmingham last week. The firm sought 16 additional vehicles on A licence, with a normal user of tyres, machinery, hardware, mainly smalls and parcels, London. Midlands and Lancashire.
British Road Services and British Railways Board objected. When the hearing was adjourned, the deputy West Midland Licensing Authority, Mr. R. Hall, granted the applicants eight vehicles on a short-term administrative licence. • But he warned the advocates in the case: "This temporary grant does not reflect what I think about the case so far and has no bearing on what I will grant when it is completed." Presenting Brevitt's case. Mr. J. Foley Egginton said that his client's business had grown much faster than the fleet. The firm had 50 vehicles, including a maintenance vehicle-36 on A licence and 14 on B. A number of them had been acquired in take-overs since 1961. Mr. J. L. Brevitt, director and secretary, said in evidence that the earnings of the fleet totalled £231,570 in 12 months ending in June this year. He had two vehicles permanently on hire and others were hired when they could get them.
Eight customer witnesses told stories of a marked deterioration in Brevitt's service in the past few months. Vehicles Sometimes failed to turn up and. when they did, they were frequently so heavily loaded the customers could not put on all the traffic they wanted to.
Several claimed that their firms had lost orders to competitors through the situation. They could no longer depend on the 4f1-hour service they -used to expect from Brevitt. A number of customers said they used BRS to places not served by the applicants, but alleged that delivery sometimes took a fortnight and there had been cases of three weeks. One firm stopped sending traffic to London by BRS and employed Brevitt instead because a survey showed considerable delivery delays.
Midland Red Win HIGHER bus fares in II Midland counties from Sept. 4 follow Midland Red's application (The Commercial Motor, Aug. 6). Announcing the increase on Monday. the West Midland Traffic Commissioners said they had approved the application almost in full. The increase amounts to Id. for each 6d. of existing fares.