Four-hour hearing adjourned
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• An application by Wallace Arnold Tours Ltd of Leeds to start an express coach service between Castleford and Llandudno was opposed by seven bus companies and British Railways when it came before the Yorkshire Licensing Authority at Leeds. If granted, such a licence would open up North Wales to direct services by the company and be the first ever granted.
Chairman of the Commissioners, MajGen Sir John Potter, adjourned the case until a date to be decided after a four-hour hearing in which seven witnesses for Wallace Arnold said that a direct express coach service to the North Wales resorts of Llandudno, Rhyl and Prestatyn, would be a boon to people living in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
Objectors to the application were: North Western Road Car Co Ltd; West Yorkshire Road Car Co Ltd; Lancashire United Transport Ltd; United Automobile Services Ltd; Northern General Transport Co Ltd; West Riding Automobile Co Ltd; Hebble Motor Services Ltd; and British Railways.
Mr M. A. Thorpe, appearing for Wallace Arnold, referred to a previous unsuccessful application made by the company in the midfifties. Since then the position had been completely altered by the opening of motorways. Half of the 127-mile journey from Leeds tc Llandudno could now be accomplished or two motorways. This had brought times down considerably and the proposed Saturday service would take 4 hours 35 minutes, including a 30-minute meal break. This was considerably less than the five or six hours it was currently taking the objectors to reach North Wales. Mr Thorpe said that Wallace Arnold intended to eliminate the crawl into and out of Manchester altogether. He cited expensive rail fares and the fact that passengers to North Wales had to change trains.