A.R.O. Active in Liverpool
Page 41
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THE Associated Road Operators held its first public meeting in Liverpool, on Monday, When the speaker was Mr. Wyndham Gibbs, superintendent organizer. Mr. R. B. Stockdale was in the chair.
Mr. Gibbs said that the present position could be described adequately in one word, " desperate." Many B licences were due for renewal and numerous holders were finding it a difficult matter to obtain renewal. Of the first 130 applications for renewal, 45 were objected to by the railway companies.
Operators were required by the Road and Rail Traffic Act to maintain their vehicles in a fit condition, but all too few of them realized the seriousness of that clause. The Association intended fighting the Enston appeal decision whenever the opportunity presented itself in the courts, he added.
Dealing with taxation, did members realize that they were paying 400 per cent. more now than they were 10 years ago? asked Mr. Gibbs. What was to stop them from paying 500 per cent. more? Nothing but organization.
Result of the restrictions imposed upon public service vehicles by the Road Traffic Act, 1930, was to put 25 per cent, of private operators out of business in the first 12 mouths.
Mr. Stockdale remarked that the haulier's position was desperate, but they felt that it was not past redemption, and, as Mr. Gibbs had indicated, the solution rested entirely in the members' own bands, Replying to a question regarding rate-cutting, Mr. Gibbs said that when the area was properly organized he would introduce a rates schedule, but this action could be taken only with the co-operation of members.
It was suggested that a questionnaire should be addressed to Members of Parliament and prospective candidates, asking them, if returned, to give proper consideration to the road-transport case, and Mr. Stockdale said that this proposal would be considered,