Decision Reserved in Reader Case
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DECISION was reserved at Bridlington, last week, when IVIaj, F. S. Eastwood, Yorkshire Licensing Authority, finished hearing an application by Reader Bros.. Ltd., Hull, for six additional A-licence vehicles (The Commercial Motor, last week). He heard submissions on behalf of the British Transport Commission and 10 private objectors that the application should be refused.
For the FIT.C., Mr. T. B. Atkinson pointed out that although the application was made last October, Reader' had managed without applying for a shortterm grant pending the hearing. They were trying to ruu a trunk service without shunt drivers, so any difficulty they experienced arose from their own mismanagement.
There were no grounds for suggesting that fruit and vegetables were specialized traffic, or for saying that British Road Services did not carry these loads. Witnesses had stated that B.R.S. were handling exactly the same commodities .as Reader's.
Mr. P. Kenny, for the private objectors, said most Of the schedules which had been submitted in support of the application were valueless, and one particular document appeared to be a "bare-faced lie." , Because Reader's did not employ shunt drivers, they had vehicles idle at the end of trunk routes so that the drivers could rest,and the same vehicles sometimes waited all, day at the docks. The trunk service was utterly disorganized.
Closing Reader's case, Mr. R. Paterson said they based their application on the pains they took to assist the fruit trade. There was no evidence that the private objectors had vehicles available, although Reader's witnesses had declared that they needed more facilities. He asked Maj. Eastwood to find that there was merit in such a modest application, bearing in mind that there were special factors in the fruit trade.
INSTRUMENTS ON TOUR
TWO mobile demonstration units have L been sent to the Poznan Fair, in Poland, by Kelvin and Hughes, Ltd., and are afterwards to make a four-month tour. Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Jugoslavia are to be visited by a Thames Trader tractor, which tows a semi-trailer showroom displaying lighting fixtures for hospital operating theatres, electronic instruments for detecting flaws in metal, and equipment for improving boiler efficiency.
A Land-Rover draws a caravan fitted with marine instruments and will call at Polish, Western German and Belgian ports. It carries equipment for finding fish, and modern marine radar.
The company hope to expand their trade behind the Iron Curtain.