A lot of tidying up
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• During an application by Cliff's Saloon Coaches Ltd for revised and additional excursion and tours licences on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mr D. I. R. Muir, chairman of the Metropolitan Traffic Commissioners, claimed that there had been a great deal of last-minute tidying up of the application. Mr D. Thorpe, representing the applicants, agreed, adding that objectors tended to reveal their hand at the last min ute.
Cliff's had made one application and two sets of modifications since January. Three objectors had withdrawn, leaving W. Wootten and Sons Ltd and A. Timpson and Sons Ltd, who opposed applications for twoand four-day tours to the Cotswolds, the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District and one-day tours to Heathrow Airport and the Chilterns, and to the New Forest.
Cliff's also applied to change the licences on Brighton and Worthing journeys, and Margate, Ramsgatc, Broadstairs and Pegwell Bay from express to excursions and tours. All the applications were granted, except for the one-day excursion to the New Forest.
In reply to questions from Mr Sankey Barker, representing Woottens. Mr G. 0. Cliff. managing director of Cliff's Saloon Coaches, admitted that his loadings on 1970 tours were down on 1969. but claimed that he was trying to provide wider variety, perhaps on fewer occasions, by applying for the additional tours. Mr Muir commented that it seemed that Mr Cliff was asking for additional tours when he had not given the existing tours, granted in 1969, much chance.
Asked what the lowest possible economical load was to make a tour a viable proposition, Mr Cliff said he could make the tours pay with a minimum of 12 passengers, and added that this was a liberal estimate.