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THE WAY WE WERE...
Page 26
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Regarding the letter from Bob Terry in which he refers to the old A, B and C licensing system (CM 3-9 April 2003), I have been involved in the road haulage business since the late 1940s and this brought back a lot of memories for me.
I have been in the industry practically all my working life and am still involved at the age of 75 years, travelling regularly to Yorkshire where lam business development manager for a very sound and wellestablished private company, with whom I have worked for four years.
My first job was traffic clerk with a company in Lincoln, which was involved mainly in the haulage of farm produce, and flour from a local mill.
They operated under A and B licences and carried for hire and reward; the A licences enabled them to carry for any customer and to carry any goods within the UK, the B licences were limited to specified goods and were limited as to the mileage in which you were allowed to operate, At that time (prior to nationalisation), nearly all haulage was done by local firms within a very limited distance.
However the company I was with, an old and well-established general haulage company, did get involved in quite a lot of the longer-distance work, using Alicensed vehicles.
After that I joined a company specialising in the transport of livestock from local farms and markets, and also from Ireland through the Port of Holyhead. Again this was a very specialised job, needing highlyskilled drivers who were also able to handle and look after cattle and other livestock enroute. The C licences were of course for the carriage of your own goods, not for hire and reward.
I trust you and your readers might find this information on the old A,B and C licences of interest.
Geoff Hallam, Grimsby, N E Lincolnshire.