Hire Charge £27,550 a Year
Page 37
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CLAIMING that they wished substantially to reduce their annual hiring figure of £27,550 and that their traffic was increasing, Cockburn and Gunn, Ltd., Gateshead on Tyne, applied to the Northern Deputy Licensing Authority, Mr. G. W. Duncan, at Newcastle upon Tyne, last Friday, to replace three vehicles (21 tons each) by three of 7i tons each, and to add a further vehicle of 71 tons unladen.
For the company, represented by Mr. Frank Milton (Road Haulage Association), it was stated that 14 A-licence Vehicles were operated, including six on special A licences. The turnover of 1953-54 had increased four-fold in 1954-55. Hiring had risen from £4,500 to £27,550.
Mr. Robert Cawthorn, a director, said that his company were wharfingers and warehousemen, as well as hauliers. They had their own private wharf on the River Tyne at Gateshead and were responsible for the distribution of goods discharged there from ships.
In 1953 they began to handle large quantities of neoprene, a substance used for the manufacture of latex, in respect of which the haulage turnover had increased in 12 months by almost 80 per cent. Shipments of 200 tons came in at about fortnightly intervals for country-wide distribution. Since the vehicles under special A licences had been operated, said Mr. Cawthorn, their business had increased beyond all expectations. Even if the present application were granted, they would still have to hire.
Questioned by Mr. E. Atkinson, for British Road Services and British Railways, about hiring vehicles from B.R.S., the witness said: "They cannot give me the service."
Replying to a suggestion that traffic was being handled for Vickers Armstrong, Ltd., which had previously been carried by B.R.S.. Mr. Cawthorn said that this particular traffic was being carried by some of the six vehicles which he purchased from B.R.S. He disagreed with the allegation by British Railways that traffic he was carrying for Darlington and Simpson Rolling Mills had previously gone by rail.
The application was adjourned until May 26 to allow the railways to produce evidence of carryings from Darlington and Simpson Rolling Mills.