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LAST RESORT?

22nd April 1993, Page 44
22nd April 1993
Page 44
Page 44, 22nd April 1993 — LAST RESORT?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Headlines like "Transport Tribunal Upholds Bloggs Appeal appear regularly in Commercial Motor, but what is the Transport Tribunal? Who sits on it? What powers does it have?

The Transport Act 1968 gives a right of appeal to the Transport Tribunal to anyone whose 0-licence application has been refused or granted subject to conditions; to.hauliers whose whose 0-licence has been suspended, curtailed, revoked or prematurely terminated by a Transport Commissioner; and, on the other side of the fence, to anyone who has unsuccessfully opposed the granting of a licence except on environmental grounds. The Transport Tribunal usually sits in London and usually comprises a legally qualified chairman (a Judge or QC appointed by the Lord Chancellor) with two lay members with relevant experience in the transport industry

The appeal is not a re-hearing. Generally no evidence is given and the Tribunal only has very limited powers to admit additional evidence. Appeals must be based on points of law—an appellant might claim that a Commissioner misinterpreted the law or exceeded his powers".

A common ground of appeal is "the Commissioner got it wrong" by coming to a decision which does not seem logical, based on the facts.

That is typically a very difficult ground of appeal to substantiate because you have to convince the Transport Tribunal members not only that they would have made a different decision, but that the decision was so wrong that no-one could have come to that decision on the facts presented.

The Transport Tribunal also considers questions of "natural justice". In the John Dee case last year it upheld the appeal of the RHA on the grounds that the Licensing Authority had not complied with the principle of natural justice by seeing directors of John Dee and their lawyer in chambers without representatives of the RHA being present and by permitting the financial assessor to receive documents after the final hearing which were not seen by the RHA.

The system is surprisingly "user friendly" but appeals must be lodged within 21 days of publication or 49 days from the decision if the it is not published.

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People: John Dee
Locations: London

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