Hamstrung by Diversity
Page 38
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THE licensing system has its imperfections but it is easier to criticize than to devise improvements that will do justice to everyone. Although the Transport Act. 1953, has tended to make it easier for hauliers to obtain additional vehicles, long-distance carriers of general goods are often hard pressed to produce the necessary evidence, despite the urgency of their need. Their difficulty is that they have a large number of regular customers, but most of the accounts are small.
The consignor of a few tons a month is hardly likely to be persuaded to spend a day in giving evidence to a Licensing Authority, although he would be inconvenienced if the transport facilities on which he relied were withdrawn. Evidence of need for extra vehicles must, therefore, be produced mainly by one or two larger customers, and the .normal user of a licence granted on their testimony may be circumscribed to such an extent that the additional lorry is of little value in the fleet as a whole.
This may be a case where the Licensing Authority would be justified in granting additional facilities on the evidence of letters alone, provided that there was a large number of them, representing a big tonnage.