Firm wins grant despite objection after takeover
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THE North Western deputy LA, Mr. A. H. Jolliffe, rejected a submission at Manchester this week that a wholly owned subsidiary haulage company was not entitled to succeed in an application to add additional vehicles to
the
W. T. Noble and Sons (Manchester) Ltd., based at Ashton-under-Lyne, applied to add 12 vans (484 tons) to its A licence. If granted a Contract A licence for 13 vehicles with Vitafoam Ltd., Don Mills, Middleton, Manchester, would be surrendered.
For Noble, Mr. J. Backhouse said that after conferring with Mr. F. Clayton, for the objector, British Railways, the matters at issue were a number of additional vehicles required on A licence to meet the need of customers and a legal point arising from the takeover of Noble by Vitafoam.
On the question of quantum it had been agreed between them to reduce the 12 vehicles applied for to eight, the remaining ones to be left on Contract A or put on C licence.
On the legal issue he emphasised that despite the takeover, Noble was in business as a haulier and that business had been acquired by Vitafoam Ltd., who was now in haulage.
Mr. Clayton submitted that Vitafoam was getting the best of both worlds through the control of vehicles on A, Contract A and C licence and he asked Mr. Jolliffe to determine this application in the light of the merchandise transport case and subsequent appeals. Lord Devlin's judgment applied equally to Vitafoam as it did to Harris Lebus.
Mr. Jolliffe: "If a company diversifies are you saying that company can no longer carry its own goods on those vehicles?"
Mr. Clayton: "Yes".
In his summing up, Mr. Jolliffe said it was a proper issue to raise and an interesting one, but Noble remained a haulage organization carrying for customers other than Vitafoam and he did not feel it was in the same class or within the spirit of the appeal cases quoted.
He granted eight vehicles subject to their deletion from Contract A.