Campaign to Bring in Police as Objectors
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AR. HANLON'S campaign to lvi encourage the police to oppose
renewals of A and B licences to persons who have been convicted of carrying stolen goods in vehicles has attracted widespread attention and he has been invited to address the Chief Constables' Conference on the subject.
His view is that, although it is not for a Licensing Authority to say whether or not the law ought to be strengthened in the matter of applications made by people who use goods vehicles to commit crime or to carry stolen goods, if a breach of a condition of a licence occurs in that way, it is his duty to revoke the licence.
In a recent "suspension or revocation" inquiry, at Penrith, Mr. Hanlon
held that the carrying of goods stolen from a warehouse by a C-licensee in his vehicle was use for "reward." He revoked the licence on the grounds that such work had violated the terms of the licence and was committed wilfully.
The weakness of the existing law in dealing with this kind of position was that the only licence condition which could be considered in the context of revocation was that under section 2(4) of the 1933 Act—" that the vehicle shall not be used for the carriage of goods for hire or reward," he commented.
For the licence holder, it was submitted that no breach of conditions had occurred, because the goods had not been carried on behalf of someone else and therefore could not have been carried for hire or reward. Mr. Hanjon's view was that, in using the vehicle and loading it with goods which the licensee and another man were stealing, goods were being carried for reward within the meaning of the section. An appeal is to be made to the Transport Tribunal for a ruling on this question. It would be in the public interest if the law were .amended to give poWer to Licensing Authorities to consider the previous conduct of an applicant for a C licence in his capacity as a carrier of goods, and if they were allowed discretion to refuse an application in the general interests of the eommunity. •