Minibus licence test case
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• The members of the West Lothian Coach Hirers' Association are to contest in Linlithgow Sheriff Court today (Friday) charges arising from alleged operation without licences, providing express carriage services contrary to the Road Traffic Act 1960. It is anticipated that one case will be heard out of the 11 which have been cited and that this will be regarded as a test case.
The II members of the Association have tendered pleas of not guilty and the Association has retained Mr T. McGhie of Edinburgh to act on their behalf. The background to this case, writes a Scottish correspondent, is the periodic appearance in the Scottish courts of operators of minibus and similar pints charged with the carriage of passengers without licences, mainly concerned with direct transport of workpeople from external villages and towns to industrial plants in West Lothian. On such occasions there have been varying decisions. In at least two instances the courts have refused to accept that the operation was in breach of the regulations, by reason of the routines used to hire vehicles. Since that time a number of applications have been made for legalization and some licences have been granted. But there is still considerable alleged 'abstraction of traffic and considerable alleged illegal operation.
The West Lothian Association was formed in the late part of 1970 to provide a central body which could represent the smaller operators in any such case as has now ariseg.