LAs look back on a busy year
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• The Annual Reports of the Licensing Authorities to the Minister of Transport for the period October 1 1967 to September 30 1968, HMSO, price 8s., indicate that the downward trend of defective goods vehicles continued, whereas convictions for hours and records offences increased by 47 per cent.
Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, Northern LA, reported that applications for A and B licences decreased because fewer licences were due for renewal. One B licence, authorizing two vehicles, had been revoked and 19 vehicles involving 15 licences suspended for periods varying from 14 days to three months. The Road /Rail Negotiating Committee considered 159 applications compared with 132 in the previous year; 1,537 permits for hauliers who wished to carry goods to or through West Germany were issued.
Mr. H. E. Robson, Yorkshire LA, noted that while applications for new. A licences increased by 64, B licence applications dropped by 179. This was partly explained by the completion of MI within the traffic area. Nevertheless, the demand for shortterm B licences continued because of the increasing demands of the civil engineering and construction industries requiring sand and gravel.
There were 3,995 convictions in the area, an increase of 661. Three licences (two A and one B) were revoked involving 41 vehicles.
For the North-Western traffic area, Mr. C. R. Hodgson said he was concerned about the serious loss of time caused by the non-attendance at public inquiries of 151 applicants, two-thirds of whom had applied for new B licences. The Road/Rail Negotiating Committee considered 640 cases and agreement was reached in 75 per cent of these. Applications for A and B licences increased, though all but 13 of the 196 new A licence applications were caused by mergers of companies and/or licences, and the purchase of businesses or vehicles. No licences had been revoked.
Summonses relating to goods licensing offences showed a 25 per cent increase and a 15 per cent increase in convictions.
Mr. J. Else, W. Midland LA, reported that the number of applications for A licences wr s down by 26 and B licences by 34. Only 14.6 per cent of the notifiable applications received were objected to, against 23.9 per cent last year.
"The British Railways Board has almost disappeared from the licensing scene," said Mr. Else, "whilst BRS have tended to concentrate their objections on special traffic flows, e.g. steel or specialized traffics, such as low-loader or furniture removal work." Fifty-six cases were considered under Section 178. Three licences were revoked, 37 curtailed, three suspended; no action was taken on six and seven received warnings.
Mr. Else said road construction and development projects had again proved to be sources of irregular operation.
The E. Midland LA, Mr. C. M. Sheridan, said that applications for A and B licences were 33 per cent and four per cent respectively less than last year. He gave three reasons for a drop of approximately 35 per cent in vehicle examinations:
(1) Because the examiners seconded to the area in the preceding year increased the number of vehicles inspected in that year to above average; (2) examiners had to spend a lot of extra time implementing the H.G.V. testing scheme; (3) considerable emphasis had to be given to garage inspections following the change of conditions to authorize private car testing.
Mr. W. P. S. Ormond, Eastern LA, noted that of the 739 objections brought to public inquiry, BR accounted for 19 and BRS 41. Although there were 251 more objections at public inquiries than in the previous year, 17 per cent more applications were granted. This indicated an improvement in the evidence of need, he felt. Mr. Ormond noted that the 1967/68 season produced a heavy crop of sugarbeet, none of which, for the first time ever, was carried by rail.
He suggested that operators who undertook their own maintenance achieved more consistent results than those relying on contracted maintenance.
The S. Wales LA. Mr. R. R. Jackson, regarded the decrease in the number of applications which warranted a public inquiry as a reflection of his success in increasing the awareness of operators to the importance of good maintenance. Operators had not been expanding their fleets as energetically as in previous years but had been improving them by way of vehicle replacement.
A significant increase had occurred in applications to take over existing, licences following the purchase of the goodwill of businesses, said Mr. Jackson; 71 more applications were granted this year than last, mostly through existing operators taking Over competitors.
Summonses for using a goods vehicle without a carrier's licence were nearly double the previous year's total but offences for breach of C and U Regulations decreased from 564 to 330.
Mr. J. IL C. Sarnuel-Gibbon, Western LA, recorded that, although vehicles in the area maintained a fair record in respect of smoke emission (the result of some years of detailed investigations into single causes, and co-operation with operators and fuel injection equipment specialists), it was noticeable that there was a seasonable deterioration towards the end of the summer.
Operators would dO well to bear this in mind as smoke checks increased in August and September.
A deliberate policy in the interests of road safety led to an increase in convictions relating to drivers' hours and records and overloading offences, said Mr. SamuelGibbon.
The S. Eastern LA, M4-Gen. A. F. J. Elmsfic, said there were fewer applications for new A licences but an increase in applications for A-Contract and B licences. Activity had been concentrated on pirate tipper operators working on a particular development site, a number of whom had been apprehended and prosecuted.
A significant increase in convictions for C and U regulations offences and unauthorized use offences had occurred, Said Maj.-Gen. Elmslie. Some persistent "hours and records" offenders had turned towards more elaborate methods of concealing their offences.
In his report, the Metropolitan LA, Mr. D. I. R. Muir, said that 538 short-term b licences were granted without prior publication, more than five times those in 1965 /66. The "considerable increase" was likely to continue following the implementation of the Goods Vehicles (Temporary Use in Great Britain) Regulations 1967, unless further agreements similar to the AngloSwedish bilateral were entered into.
A total of 44,672 vehicles had been examined in road checks, resulting in 4,365 summonses and fines amounting to £16,503. Operators had suffered a shortage of skilled and reliable fitting staff which meant relying on outside agencies, in many cases proving to be unreliable and expensive, said Mr. Muir. Operators had sometimes put their vehicles on the road in a borderline condition of fitness while awaiting parts which took weeks, in some cases months, to deliver. There had been 17 Section 178 inquiries.
The Scottish LA, Mr. A. B. Brine, said that applications for new A and B licences were down on the previous year. Goods Vehicles (Temporary Use in Great Britain) Regulations 1967 accounted for 34 Northern Irish operators making 103 applications for short-term B licence applications.
The downward trend of objections to licences in general continued. Poor vehicle maintenance was the predominant reason for calling 96 operators to Section 178 inquiries, said Mr. Birnie. Curtailments and suspensions accounted for the loss of 1,216 vehicle months.
In general, the majority of LAs mentioned the increasing demands made upon them and their staff by the Transport Bill, h.g.v. testing scheme, and the training of new and industrial training staff.