Base and User Changed: Work to be Justified on Renewal
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3Egious complications may ensue if, in acquiring additional vehicles,
the procedure of an application under Section 11(3)(b) of the 1933 Act or a straightforward application for extra tonnage is circumvented. The danger became apparent last week in a case in which an extra lorry was obtained through the. acquisition of shares in an existing company, involving only a change of directors and management The vehicle had been removed from its original base, incorporated in the buyer's fleet and used on different work without notifying the Licensing Authority. The British Transport Commission argued that so far as the vehicle in question was concerned, the applicants should be treated as newcomers.
The B.T.C. objected to the renewal of anA licence held by T. Hesketh, Ltd., Widnes, whose directors, Mr. J. A. Williams and Mr. A. R. Williams, were said to be in business at Mill Road, Liverpool, as J. A. Williams and Son, with one vehicle on special A licence and two on contract A licence. Mr. J. A. Williams also had two vehicles, one on A licence and another on B licence.
Change of Control Mr. A. W. Balne, for the Commission, submitted that control of T. Hesketh, Ltd., had passed from one set of directors to another, who had no intention of continuing the work originally done, and had removed the vehicle from its base to Liverpool.
An A licence had been obtained on representations for the carriage of certain goods (for Imperial Chemical Industries), but the vehicle had been used for other work from a different base and no steps had been taken to regularize the position.
Mr. E. A. Whitehead, for the applicants, said the declaration of normal user was made before the 1953 Act was passed. During nationalization, which forced many changes in normal user, the original condition on Hesketh's licence, "general goods, Liverpool, London, Widnes and as required," was altered to "all goods for Imperial Chemical Industries, as required." Under the Walker appeal decision, said Mr. Whitehead, the applicants were entitled to return to pre-nationalization terms.
Tribunal's View Mr. BaIne conceded that it was mot the applicant's duty to notify every change of traffic or base during the currency of a licence, but the Transport Tribunal took the view that where there was a complete change of user and nothing was done to regularize the position, applicants should not be allowed to retain work obtained by that means. The work must be justified.
The vehicle in question, said Mr. Balne, was earning more than £4,000 a year, but the only witness could not testify to more than 5 per cent, of its work.
Mr. J. R. Lindsay, North-Western Deputy Licensing Authority, who heard the case, reserved decision. He said he found it difficult to believe that the applicants hau aoanaoned the I.C.I. work because of the previous user.
Mr, J. A. Williams had said that when the vehicle was bought, the history of Hesketh's licence was not investigated, and he had purchased it with the intention of using it for his own work. I.C.I. had not been asked to continue the work, and the applicants must justify their present activity.
NOT-SO-MERRY-GO-ROUND WHEN trams were withdrawn in IT Paisley, a 10-minute service operated by the Western S.M.T. Co., Ltd., replaced them in the centre of the town. Private companies, however, were diverted to a northern terminus in St. James Street.
Now the Scottish Traffic Commissioners have agreed to an application by two private companies to alter their route into Paisley on the service operated from Renfrew Ferry. Buses run by Cunningham's Bus Services, Ltd., Paisley, and Paton Bros., Ltd., Renfrew, will follow the same route as Western S.M.T. in the town to the Municipal Buildings.
There passengers will be set down, hut the vehicles will then have to travel a three-quarter-mile circle, bringing them almost back to the Municipal Buildings again, before they can pick up.