Reciprocal Arrangement Lost Value
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AN application to add one vehicle to an A licence, mainly for the carriage of livestock, was granted by Mr. G. W. Duncan, Northern Deputy Licensing Authority, after a two-day hearing which was concluded at Newcastle upon Tyne, last week.
The applicant, Mr. R. Lowdon, South Charlton, Alnwiek, Northumberland, told Mr. Duncan that he had held his A licence for eight years and had transported sheep and cattle to and from nearly all markets held in Northumber land and southern Scotland. He had made the application because in recent months he had been nimble to cope with the requests of all his customers.
For several years he had worked closely with R. Rankin and Sons, Ltd.. Wooler, who, until June of this year, operated three vehicles. He had a reciprocal arrangement with them whereby he looked after their customers when he was at a market and their vehicles looked after his customers when he was not present.
In June, Rankin sold their business to Redpath Bros., Ltd., who were now objecting. They operated 19 vehicles and attended every market held in the area. Since this sale he'had carried on alone and was unable to meet the demands of his customers without hiring.
Mr. Lowdorf said that his yearly earnings had increased from £1,670, in 1957, to E2,061 in the last full year.
Cross-examined by Mr. T. H. Campbell Wardlaw, for Redpath Bros., Mr. Lowdon agreed that livestock haulage in the area was handled only by himself and Redpath. He agreed that Redpath had passed work to him consistently through out the years, and also that they had offered to continue the reciprocal arrangement.
Eight farmers, who supported the application, spoke of the excellent service they had received from the applicant. They agreed that other vehicles they had hired had arrived late, and sometimes not at all.
Granting the application, Mr. Duncan said that he entirely disregarded the testimonials given by the witnesses. He was satisfied that the vehicle was fully employed and that the applicant was refusing work. He agreed that, with the number of vehicles at the disposal of Redpath, the reciprocal arrangement had much less value to the applicant than previously, but stated that it was not a factor which he took into account in arriving at his decision.
SPECIAL ROUTES FOR SHALE LORRIES
NEW routes which lorry drivers will have to follow without deviation should ease road congestion by shale lorries in and around Newport (Mon), With lorries entering the site of the new Spencer steelworks at a peak rate of 5,000 journeys a day, the first extension of the new Aberthaw road came into use last week.
About 60 signposts have been erected to guide the drivers, who have also been issued with sketch maps of the routes. Officials have also been stationed at busy road junctions to advise drivers. Rigid one-way instructions have been issued by the contractors for certain roads, and already there has been favourable reaction from the public.