A back door into
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
'CY licensing? by David Spain
MINISTRY PROPOSALS GET DIFFERENT TREATMENT IN DIFFERENT TRAFFIC AREAS
• Five of the 11 MoT traffic areas have accepted advice from the Ministry in a way which will provide newcomers with relatively easy entry into operators' licensing. They will get the advantage of the transitional procedure laid down in section 94 of the Transport Act 1968, and their applications will not be open to objection.
The Ministry's intention is to reduce the amount of paperwork that LAs' staff are likely to have forced upon them by the advent of operators' licensing. It has therefore suggested that applications for A or B licences for vehicles not exceeding 16 tons gross plated weight or 5 tons unladen weight should be granted in chambers as short-term licences without publication in Applications and Decisions. Then, so long as the LA is satisfied with the applicant's fitness as a potential haulier and with his maintenance arrangements, the application will be granted with no opportunity for objection and on March I this "haulier will be entitled to an 0 licence under the transitional provisions.
This, I understand, is how the Ministry's proposals are being applied in the Scottish, Yorkshire, West Midlands, Western and Metropolitan traffic areas. But elsewhere, it seems, the advice is being interpreted differently.
Spokesmen for the North Western and South Eastern areas told me this week that short-term licences would be granted in chambers without publication in As and Ds. These licences would, however, expire on February 28 and the holder would need to make a fresh application for an 0 licence, the applicant being viewed as a newcomer and not able to take advantage of the transitional arrangements. They said the application would be granted in chambers because there was insufficient time for it to reach public inquiry stage. This would benefit the applicant.
The Northern LA intends to grant certain trivial applications without publication, said an area spokesman, although even then only after consultation with the RHA and British Railways. Anything that seemed likely to attract objection would be published in the normal way. The spokesman thought that any irregularities would soon be spotted by the LA's staff.
A South Wales traffic area spokesman said the LA was within his rights to grant a short-term licence after December 1 to expire before or after March 1. Those whose licence expired before March 1 would, in all probability, be granted an interim licence, he said, to take them over into 0 licensing. The LA would then be able to review each interim licence-holder's application before granting the operators' licence.
The Eastern area has devised yet another method. Its spokesman said that all applications would be considered in the normal manner until January 5, eight weeks before 0 day.
After that date all new applicants would receive an operator's licence application form. This method, if my interpretation of 5.94 is correct, certainly bars a newcomer from the transitional provisions.
The East Midland view was similar. "The shutters will come down some time in January," said a spokesman, "and then applicants will be sent 0-licence application forms."
The LA will, however, be prepared to grant some applicants short-term licences in chambers without publication, I was told, although he would be selective and each case would be viewed on its merits.
Some areas agreed that the recommended Ministry procedure appeared to be the "back door entry" into operators' licensing, but they all felt that it was no worse than the loophole left by the C-licence transitional arrangements.
-Why bother with an A or B application," said one, "when it is easier and cheaper via a C licence?"