Bus Passengers Must Walk Over Bridge
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WHEN Cumberland Motor Services, Ltd., applied last week to the Northern Licensing Authority for permission to vary a licence for a stage service from Cleaton Moor to Whitehaven, so as to avoid a bridge limited to 5 tons, neither of the alternative routes proposed, met with the Licensing Authority's approval.
Instead, permission. was given for the route to be run as at present, except that passengers would have to leave the bus and cross over the bridge on foot. Drivers would have to ensure that an empty bus would not cross when another vehicle was on the bridge.
The Licensing Authority, Mr. S. W. Nelson, declared that this method of rneetiiig the difficulties would, if nothing else, "impress the matter on the minds of the public, who, I have no doubt, will write to their Member of Parliament, and it may be a means of getting this matter put right."
Only buses up to 5 tons unladen weight were authorized for the service, which, Mr. Nelson said, was a temporary expedient. "We can't compel licence holders to keep vehicles of this outmoded type," he added.
Mr. H. H. Merchant, general manager of C.M.S., revealed that both single and double-deck buses had been operated over the bridge, until the railway' authorities notified the concern that the bridge was not suitable for loads over 5 tons. It was Suggested that the service should be altered so that passengers would have to walk 11 miles to their destination, or that an unclassified road be used.