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KNIGHTS OF THE ROAD
Page 26
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In reply to your request for information about A, B and C licences for vehicles (3-9 April 20031.1 remember these very well, as my late father had several licences and used to employ 20 drivers during the late 1950s. An A licence was quite difficult to obtain, you were required by law to 'prove the need' for this type of licence, which enabled you to carry all types of goods by road anywhere in the country without restrictions. I remember well my father purchasing vehicles together with the A licences— which was also very costly in those days—but having got it, then it was really worth its weight in gold.
A B licence was more restricted: one could only travel a certain number of miles radius, I think it was 40 to 50, away from your base. A C licence was entirely for your own goods, such as moving bales of hay or straw from one field to another a short distance away.
Sadly, when the licensing system changed to the current one, many firms like my father's lost an awful lot of money overnight, and A licences became worthless. We lost some 212,000—an awful lot of cash in those days.
Although we were not alone in this, we felt like all our hard work had been for nothing. I think it was better when one had to prove the need for a licence to run a fleet of trucks; one earned much more respect and people were glad of a job. Drivers really were the knights of the road, and everyone would help each other if needed at any time.
Jean Sharpies,
Eardisley, Herefordshire.