Excess Weight in Substitutions Vetoed
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Removal of Vehicle or Replacement is Automatic : Tribunal Criticize Mr. Hanlon
ivo, excess unladen weight, however small, is to be authorized by " Licensing Authorities when permitting vehicles to be substituted under the proviso to Section. 10(2) of the Road and kail Traffic Act, 1933. This refers to applications which a Licensing Authority is bound to grant.
If, as was stated in the Thompstone appeal, Authorities are in the habit of disregarding any increase in weight not exceeding 5 cwt., the practice is to cease.
This ruling is given by the Transport Tribunal in their written decision, published this week, on the appeal by J. Thompstone (Haulage), Ltd., against the refusal of Mr. I A. T. Hanlon, Northern Licensing Authority, to allow the substitution of a vehicle after a lapse of a year. The Tribunal's decision to dismiss the appeal was reported in The Commercial Motor on November 26, and was based on the fact that the new vehicle acquired was 5 cwt. heavier than the old one.
Mr. Hanlon, however, refused the application for different reasons. These were attacked by The Commercial Motor on July 23 and the Tribunal have substantially upheld the arguments put forward by this journal.
On April 23, 1953, the appellants applied for the variation of their A licence by the removal of a vehicle which had been sold and the addition of a vehicle of 24 tons "to be .acquired." The vehicle was removed and the matter rested for a year, when the appellants made another application for the removal of the old vehicle and its replacement by one of about 2 tons 14 cwt. This application was published and refused, although Thompstone maintained that the Authority was hound to grant it.
Mr. Hanlon disagreed, saying: "It seems to me that if a vehicle ceases to be used under a licence, the submission of an application to remove it from the licence by the licence holder is not a step which he can take to prevent the Licensing Authority from varying the licence by removing the vehicle from it."
Mr. Hanlon's Opinion
The Tribunal are highly critical of this observation. As they understand it, Mr. Hanlon thought that whenever the circumstances were such that the Licensing Authority could properly remove a specified vehicle from a licence of his own motion under Section 10 (3), an application by a licence holder for its removal was not within the proviso, To reconcile this view with the wording of the proviso " obviously involves reading into it an exception which is not there," says the Tribunal. "We can see no warrant whatever for doing so."
[The proviso states: Provided-that the Licensing Authority shall be hound to grant an application for a variation consisting only of the removal of a specified vehicle from the licence, or of a reduc
lion in the maximum number specified as aforesaid, or of the specification in the licence in substitution for a specified vehicle of a vehicle of the same or of a less weight unladen.]
It is impossible, states the judgment, to find any reason why Parliament should have intended, in the case of any simple removal from a licence, to provide that it could be effected only at the discretion of the Licensing Authority. "It would seem to be almost self-evident that where a licensee seeks to do no more than reduce the number of vehicles which he was authorized to use, he should be able to do so as a matter of right."
If Mr. Hanlon's view were correct, a licensee whose vehicle was destroyed would not be entitled to demand the rectification of his licence as a matter of right. "Even if the proviso were ambiguous, so as to make it right in choosing betweentwo possible cqnstructions to compare their respective practical results, a construction involving so anomalous a result ought to be rejected,says the Tribunal.
Unjustifiable Restraint
In the case of the substitution of a vehicle, Mr. Hanlon's opinion was equally unjustifiable. If, again, a vehicle were destroyed, the licensee would not be able to replace it with another identical model, but would have to rely on the Authority's discretionary power.
It had been made clear in the R.A.H. Transporters case that applications for substitutions involving additional weights were not within the proviso. That decision also established that the mere replacement of One vehicle by another of the same weight did not alter the rights granted with the Original licence.
The Tribunal say that if, instead of employing a new form G.V.6 in April this year, Thompstone's had written a letter amending their application of a year earlier, by substituting for the
mention in it of a vehicle "to be acquired,the registration number of the new vehicle, the objection now being considered would not have arisen. The second application should be treated as an amendment ofthe first,
That being so, the Tribunal had to decide whether a vehicle weighing about 2 tons 9 cwt. could he replaced by one of some 2 tons 14 cwt. The answer was plainly. " No." The expression "the same" in the proviso did not mean approximately the same."
£340,000 for Lawton: Multiplier of 41.
THE Transport Arbitration Tribunal has awarded £340,000 to Layvton's Transport, Ltd., Kearsley, near Manchester, as compensation for the acquisition of the company by the laritish Transport Commission. A multiplier of about 4-1. was used in assessing compensation for cessation of business, giving a figure on this account of £187,648.
Mr. C. Montgomery White, Q.C., president, giving judgment in London on Monday, referred to the fact that in 1939 the company had decided to confine their work to IC.!. and said: "This was a very remarkable and, perhaps, a unique undertaking. It had only one customer, but that was one of the most important companies in the kingdom, with a vast organization and in process of planning and bringing to fruition a great programme of expansion."
The gross haulage receipts of the company had shown a steady rise, and it was not disputed by the Commission that the quality of management was of the highest order. The commission had criticized the absence of contracts with .the principal executive officers of I.C.I., as well as the absence of a long-term contract with the organization.
"The main feature of this business was that it had all its eggs in one basket, albeit a very excellent basket," the judgment went on. "We found it very difficult to weigh the pros and cons of this situation. If a dispute had arisen with the one customer, the company would have found itself in a difficult position.
"During a period of expansion of I.C.I. the accent was undoubtedly on production, but we think that when a more stable position was reached, more attention might have been turned to costs, and the company was undoubtedly earning a high rate of profit on its turnover. It was very vulnerable to attempts by T.C.I. to cut rates."
NEW CLAIM FOR HIGHER PAY
ACLAIM for a "substantial increase " in pay, including an advance in rates for night work, has been submitted by the trade unions concerned to the employers. Hauliers and British Road Services are both affected.'
Government Inquiry into Outsize Loads
-TRE Government were to investigate I. the whole problem of the haulage of abnormal loads, Lord Mancroft announced in the House of Lords on Tuesday. "They are going to consult all the interests involved and see if some steps cannot be taken to meet everybody's difficulties," he said.
Stretches of road only 14 ft. wide and causing a bottleneck of traffic were instanced by Lord Lucas. Anybody could, he said, transport a load of 150 tons, 20 ft. wide and of indefinable length, just by telling the authorities he was going to do it. Surely son-le of these loads could go by other forms of transport.
One was a barge, cut into two and carried by road, instead of being sent by sea. The maximum load should be brought down to 12 ft. or 14 ft. in width, with special permission from the Ministr-y of Transport for anything in excess. Last year 19 county councils had 27.000 abnormal loads through their areas.
Lord Derwent, chairman of the British Road Federation, remarked that most of the loads were going from factory to port for export. There were certain difficulties in moving by coastwise shipping — usually there was insufficient deck space on the coasters for the abnormally large loads and normally the hatches were too narrow to get below decks.
L.T.E. RAISES PAY OFFER MO settlement of the claim for 11 increased pay by London busmen was reached after 11 hours of negotiation at the Ministry of Labour, on Tuesday, between the London Transport Executive, the Transport General Workers' Union and Mr. W. I. Neden, chief conciliation officer of the Ministry.
It was stated afterwards that certain proposals would be submitted by the Union to a delegate conference as early as possible. It is thought that the Executive have raised their offer of an additional 6s. 6d. a week. Meanwhile; the ban. on overtime and rest-time working has, against Union advice, been resumed by 11 garages.
Manchester municipal busmen last Sunday decided to strike each Saturday from January 8, unless the transport committee received a deputation from either the Greater Manchester Area Liaison Committee or the T:G.W.U. to discuss working conditions and agreements, and unless the Union made a new claim for a minimum of £8 10s. a week and higher overtime rates at the week-end.
At a regional conference on Tuesday, representatives of 31,000 passenger-" transport workers told the liaison committee that they risked fines or expulsion from the Union if they persisted in their unofficial action. Leaders of the liaison committee are to meet again today.
Driving Disqualification: High Court Ruling
WHEN limiting a driving disqualification to. a particular vehicle, the class prescribed by law should be stated. This direction to magistrates was given on Monday by the Queen's Bench Divisional Court.
Grays magistrates had disqualified Peter James Buckland, Alston Villas, Lampits Hill, Corringham, after convicting him of permitting a youth of 17 to drive an uninsured vehicle described as one of 5-cwt. capacity. The 12-month disqualification was limited to a vehicle of such a description, as Buckland earned his living by driving.
The Lord Chief Justice said that the Road Traffic Act dealt with the various; classes of vehicle, but did not state who was to -prescribe the description. The matter might be cleared up in the new Road Traffic Bill.
There was no such description of a vehicle as applied by the magistrates, but the court could not say they were not entitled to apply it, although it was inconvenient. In future, magistrates in such cases must apply the limitation to vehicles as classified or described in the Act.
Mr. Justice Cassels and Mr. Justice Devlin concurred in the dismissal of the police appeal.
PRESSURE FOR LOWER TAX
APLEA for a "iong-overdue" reduction in fuel tax has been made to the Chancellor of the Exchequer by the Traders' Road Transport Association, the Road Haulage Association and the Passenger •Vehicle Operators' Association. Mr. F. a Fitz-Gerald, national secretary of the T.R.T.A., states that the abojition of the purchase tax on goodsvehicle chassis has been requested.
BUS COMPANY FAIL
UNSUCCESSFUL last March in seeking to raise fares, F. H. Kilner (Transport), Ltd., are to be wound up. Their services from Horsham to Plaistow, Ewburst and Crawley will cease after December 21. Attempts to close the gap between receipts and expenditure have failed.
DUNDEE TRAMS TO GO
THE first step towards tram conver
sion has been taken in Dundee. Twenty-eight double-deck motorbuses are to be purchased. The city has three tram routes and 56 trams some of which are 50 years old. To continue tram operation would entail an immediate expenditure of £74,000 on the tracks.
TO REPLACE MUNICIPAL BUSES
A S no municipal buses will be running in Leeds early on Christmas Day, the Yorkshire Licensing Authority has granted Wallace Arnold Tours, Ltd., permission to operate a stage service with 50 vehicles for spectators of the morning football match at the Elland Road ground.
Road Loan Possible in Three Years
AROAD loan may be floated in 1957 or 1958 to finance the Government's new road programme. There are indications that the Government are going to do their utmost to keep road spending from swelling the already overloaded Budget, writes our Parliamentary correspondent.
Mr. Reginald Maudling, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, has told fvf.P.s that if road expenditure showed signs of becoming a burden on the Exchequer, other means for financing it would have to be found. Pressure is being maintained in favour of Sir Gurney Braithwaite's plan for a £500m. loan for road building.
Whether a loan wouldbe accompanied by Sir Gurney's other point, a National Highways Authority, is still undecided. This would be likely to meet with stern opposition from the county councils and other road authorities.
NO BAN ON 15-SEATER
THE Northern Licensing Authority last week refused to restrict a 15seat coach to certain routes, to meet an objection by Cumberland Motor Services, Ltd., against a tour application by Lake Hotel Coaches, Ltd, It was not intended to force the operators to use a 30-seater when only a dozen people arrived for a tour.
Lake Hotel Coaches, Ltd., successfully sought to renew their licence for tours from Keswick and to add to their fleet three vehicles bought with another business.
2,600 MOBILE GROCERY SHOPS THERE were over 2,600 mobile shops in the_ grocery section of the co-operative movement, said Mr. A. Prentice, transport manager of St. Cuthberts Co-operative Society, at a meeting of co-operative transport staff in Dundee last week.
Some societies were now doing twothirds of their grocery trade from travelling shops. Mr. Prentice emphasized theneed for the proper selection and training of staff.
GLASGOW COSTS UP £120,000
OPERATING • costs of Glasgow Transport Department have risen • a further £120,000, the transport subcommittee on finance and works were told on Monday. Expenses have already gone up £500,000 this year on -account of wages awards.
Ur. R. McAllister, convener, has stated that he hoped that the Chancellor of ,the Exel-equer could reducethe heavy burden of fuel tax.
1955 DUTCH TRADE
VVEHICLES will be among the principal exports to Holland next year. Some increases in trading quotas have been agreed. Existing arrangements for importing vehicles into Sweden are to continue for the time being.