Hutchings' Carlisle warning
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• Cumberland Motor Services and Palmer's of Carlisle. which compete on town services in Carlisle, have been told by North Western traffic commissioner Roy Hutchings to behave in a responsible manner, following claims that both companies have been operating vehicles outside of scheduled timetables.
The warning was issued last week by Hutchings in a traffic court, which was also told by a traffic examiner of buses being in near collision, and of buses overtaking one another and racing to bus stops in competition for passengers.
Hutchings has been considering imposing conditions on the PSV Operators' licences of both operators preventing them from operating some, or any, local services, and making a determination under section 111 of the 1985 Act, leading to a repayment of 20% of the fuel rebate grants paid to them both over the previous three months.
After seeing what is believed to be the first video evidence ever produced in a traffic court, and hearing evidence from CMS inspectors, Hutchings said it was clear that Palmer's had not been running their services in accordance with the registrations. It was also clear that CMS had intentionally interfered with Palmer's services by the irregular use of duplicate vehicles.
In the end, Hutchings took no action against either operator, although he said he would have taken a different line if not for the fact that CMS had changed its management since the days of its dispute with Yeowarts Coaches, when there had also been a question of unauthorised duplication.
These were early days in deregulation and it was clear that both operators have not seen fit to settle down and behave in a responsible manner. If it was reported to him in future that there had been any aggressive competitive action, such as aggressive driving, putting people at risk, and unauthorised duplication by CMS, he would take action.
He warned, however, that Palmer's must operate its services as presently registered, until the registrations were varied. He also expected CMS to get the message through to its road staff as their jobs were at risk. If in any way the company had in the past encouraged its staff to act improperly those instructions must be changed.