Walker's bid fails
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• Road Haulage Association and Transport and General Workers' Union opposition has stopped the successor to a recently collapsed Birmingham haulage company from getting an operator's licence in the West Midlands.
Walker Bros (Birmingham), a company formed following last December's collapse of the 42-vehicle Walker Bros (Transport), had applied for a new national licence for eight vehicles.
During the hearing of the application Derek Walker admitted that, while he was chairman of the Birmingham Training Group he had borrowed £87,000 without the consent or knowledge of the other partners to prop up Walker Bros (Transport) (CM, June 28 and August 2). For the TGWU, Dennis Mills had argued that if the new company was allowed to go ahead it would make a mockery of the licensing system. Michael Carless, for the REA, had objected to the application on financial grounds.
Refusing the application West Midland Licensing Authority Ronald Jackson said that since the Group appeared content with the arrangement to repay the money he could not find grounds in that action by Walker that he was not of good repute.
However, Jackson said that Walker had shown a total disregard for the law in order to retain contract customers of the liquidated company and said that he and so the company could not be held to be of good repute.
After the liquidation of Walker Bros (Transport) one vehicle had been kept working and another stopped only until mid-January. On January 22 one of those vehicles had still displayed a licence disc of the liquidated company.
Some attempt had been made to regularise the position by specifying the vehicles on the licence of Walker Bros (Nottingham) but as the drivers were employed by the Birmingham company the operation was still not authorised. It was not until June 21 that any real attempt was made to legitimise the position and vehicles were specified on a licence in the North Western area held by the Birmingham company.