Conduct irrelevant'
Page 25
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CONDUCT of an operawas irrelevant when conTing whether a road ser licence ought to be ited, under Section 135 of Road Traffic Act. It was extent to which the pro24:1 service was necessary or irable, and not the debility of the operator, eh had to be considered. his was said by the rman of the East Midland lic Commissioners, C. M. ridan, when an application a new British extended r licence, by Redfern ches (Forest Town) Ltd, le before him at Notham last week.
he ruling followed a sugion on behalf of the objec, National Travel, by Peter gret, that Redfern Coaches ht not be a fit operator to 1 a licence in view of ad mitted unauthorised operation.
Mr Fingret said that in considering the public interest, under Section 135(2)(c), it would be proper for the Commissioners to look at an operator's conduct.
Mr Sheridan said conduct only became relevant when Commissioners considered the grant or refusal of public service vehicle licences.
Russell Reid, of Maun International Travel Consultants, said his company was closely associated with Redfern and was in fact in the process of merging with them.
For many years Redfern's had operated extended tours on a private party basis from the Mansfield area. Following a dramatic increase in the number of enquiries for licensed tours, a survey was undertaken.
It was found there were no short duration Continental tours on offer from Mansfield. As a result, a licence was granted last year and operated to maximum capacity.
The company then looked at the British market, and it was obvious there was a need for a second Mansfield operator.
Leaflets were put out at the end of last year, as it was anticipated the case would have been heard before the beginning of the 1978 season. Six destinations were advertised and 850 bookings were taken for 14 departures. So far, three departures had been operated without licence authority.
The survey undertaken indicated that a high proportion of people did not differentiate between National Travel and the local NBC operator and that the reliability of the local bus services affected their choice of tour operator.
Mr Reid said the proposed programme was considerably cheaper than the one put out by National. He contrasted a Torquay tour in June advertised at £82 by National, with a similar tour proposed by Redferns at £67.60.
He said Redferns proposed operating direct, whilst National's programme involved changing vehicles through the use of "feeder" services.
Peter Edwards, development and licensing officer of National Travel (East), said National feared some loss from the considerable traffic it carried from the area. On British tours, 2,526 passengers were carried in 1977 and so far this year there had been 2,588 bookings.