Looking at licensing No.13 by lain Sherriff
Page 33
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Applications and objections
• An operator's licence in itself will not entitle the holder to carry goods beyond 100 miles or loads of specified bulk goods in excess of 11 tons. To engage in this type of traffic, which I dealt with in greater detail in CM on July 5, will require a special authorization. This is obtained by application to the Licensing Authority for the area in which the operator's base is situated.
For the moment, the documentation required to administer the Act which will emerge from the Bill is in draft form. It is therefore not yet known how the information to be supplied will be presented. What is known is what information will be required.
The LA will require particulars of the vehicles proposed to be used under the authorization. This is taken to mean index mark, plated weight, and carrying capacity. Of the service to be provided, the LA will want to know what type of goods are to be carried, as certain prescribed goods cannot be carried beyond five miles. He will also require to know the points of collection and delivery and the person for whom they have to be carried.
Where applicable the LA will want to know the occasions and circumstances in which the goods are to be carried. Except in special circumstances, the duration of the authorization will be five years and will expire on a specified date unless previously revoked.
The immediate reaction of many operators has been that it will not be possible to specify traffics, customers and schedules for five years ahead. The intention of section 72 is that it should have an effect similar to the present normal user or conditions ittached to a carrier's licence.
When an operator applies initially for a ;pedal authorization it will be for what is mmediately required. Any change in raffles, customers or vehicles will be notified ,o the LA and an application will be made to airy the conditions.
Applications for special authorizations ire open to objection but the field of objection Is so limited that there need not be any public notification of the application. Section 73 tates that such applications will be sent only the British Railways Board and the ational Freight Corporation.
However, the NFC also is controlled by pecial authorizations and where it makes pplication this will be passed to the BRB. the case of the NFC, objection can only made in terms that it can provide Freight liner facilities. There can be no objection from its road services.
If an application for a special authorization is accompanied by a statement from BRB or NFC that no objection is being lodged, then a copy of the application will not be submitted to them. Neither will the NFC receive a copy of the application where it is for authority to carry in excess of 11 tons of prescribed bulk traffics for more than five miles.
Any objection to the application must be made within 14 days of the objector being sent a copy of the application. Such objection must be based on the ground that the service or any part can be provided by the objector or its subsidiary wholly or 'partly by rail. For example, the BRB or NFC could object that goods from, say, Kilmarnock to Felixstowe could travel between Glasgow and London by rail.
Any objection must be accompanied by a statement to show how the service would be provided and what would be charged. A statement must also be made in writing detailing any other grounds on which the objection is based. Where an objection has been made the applicant will submit to the LA a statement detailing the grounds on which he means to support his application.
If the LA is satisfied that the application can be granted without further investigation he will grant a licence. If, however, he considers the objection to be in some degree valid he will hold a public inquiry. (The Government accepted a Lords amendment last week that if either party so requested the inquiry would be heard in camera.) Before an inquiry is held, both parties will be in possession of the statement of the other. The LA will decide when and how any statement of support for either the objection or application will be made.
It is important to note that objections can be made only on behalf of a rail service and that other operators cannot submit objections.
To summarize. Applications for special authorizations will be made to the LA for the area in which the applicant is based. The application will provide details of vehicles to be used, traffic and customers. This is similar to the present normal user or conditions of licence. An objection on behalf of rail services can be made by BRB or NFC. Such an objection can be made only on the grounds that a similar service can be offered and must show proof of the claim together with the charges to be made. The LA may hold an inquiry if he is not satisfied with the written evidence supporting an application.
On August 2 I shall be looking at section 74 which deals with the LA's decisions on special authorizations.
Year's suspension on lorry
• An Angus haulage contractor had one of his lorries suspended from use for a year by Mr. L. A. Wells, deputy LA for Scotland, at a traffic court in Dundee on Friday.
Mr. John McIntosh of Kirriemuir appeared following a conviction and £5 fine at Forfar Sheriff Court for uttering forged drivers' records. His explanation at the week-end was that the driver had done the job but forgotten to sign his name.
Mr. Wells pointed out that McIntosh had been fined on numerous previous occasions. He described the latest offence as flagrant and deliberate. Had he been able to prove that there had been any contravention of drivers' hours, he would have had no hesitation in deleting the vehicles concerned from the licences altogether.
Two for muck
• Sugrue Bros. Ltd., Harrow, applied to the deputy Metropolitan Licensing Authority in Acton on Monday for a new B licence to carry -excavated muck and builders' rubbish within 25 miles". Five established hauliers objected to the application. On the customer evidence, the deputy LA, Mr. W. Levitt, decided that he could only grant the company a licence for two tippers.