OPINIONS and QUERIES
Page 29
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The Editor invites corre.pondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be written on only one side of the paper. The right of abbreviation is reserved and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted. Queries must be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope.
MIXED ASSOCIATION CHALLENGES NEED FOR SEPARATE REPRESENTATION WJE noticed • in your issue of August 10 an article " entitled " Who Represents the Ancillary User? " setting forth certain views regarding ancillary users and suggesting that there is no adequate representation of their interests.
We think the suggestions made should not go unchallenged. As this Association consists of users of all forms of transport, many of its members own and operate road vehicles under C licences, as well as using the railway and hired road transport.
It may be safely assumed that the interests of ancillary users can be adequately safeguarded by such an Association without being prejudiced unduly towards any particular form of public transport. Since C-licence holders operate transport only as ancillary to their main business, there would not appear to be any necessity to set up another organization to act for such users, as sug
gested in the article. DERRICK G. Sono, Secretary. Mansion House Association on Transport. London, S.W.1.
LOW PRICES PAID FOR REQUISITIONED VEHICLES
VUE beg to draw your attention to a small advertisement " on page 18 of the August 10 issue of The Commercial Motor and to say that we have just had such a vehicle impressed by the R.A.F. Our Comrner corresponds in nrery detail with the description of the advertised vehicle, but we obtained only £330 for it, yet if we were able to make a replacement we should have to pay, according to the advertisement, £495.
Is there any way by which we can draw the attention of the authorities to such obvious injustice?
Birmingham, A. G. HARRIS,
A S a reader of your journal, I am communicating with you to ask if you will be good enough to inform me what you consider to be the present-day market price of a vehicle the details of which are set out below.
In October, 1937, I purchased through a motor agency an Oldsmobile 4-ton truck for £485; the value of the vehicle itself at that time was 2400 and the £85 additional money paid was in respect of a special body fitted to my specification.
In addition to spending various sums on the upkeep of this vehicle, I recently had it thoroughly overhauled at a cost of £70. Since the date of such repairs the vehicle has been on hire to the War Department.
I understand from the Army authorities that this vehicle is being requisitioned at 260 by the Ministry of Transport, in pursuance of Regulation 53 of the Defence (General) Regulations, 1939. This figure is entirely out of proportion to the market value placed on the vehicle and I should be glad if you would be good enough to inform me what, in your opinion, would be a reasonable selling price, taking into consideration the facts I have mentioned above.
Prior to handing this vehicle over to the War Depart
ment, it had not been misused in any way,, and I can assure you that before acceptance it passed a very severe test, which goes to prove that the vehicle was not only up to War Department standard but was efficient in every way. F.W.D. Kelvedon.
[It is difficult nowadays to give anything like an accurate assessment of the value of a motor vehicle, but, in view of what you say in your letter, we should have put the figure at nearer 2200. As you have spent a large sum on the overhaul it seems ridiculous to us that the requisitioning figure should be actually less than this. There appears to be an idea in the Services that if a vehicle has been hired for a period and then purchased. a good proportion of the hire charges paid should be considered as part of the purchase price, and, therefore, to be deducted from what the Ministry or other Authorities consider to be the present value of the vehicle. This view cannot be justified, and it is taking an unfair advantage of the operator,. who may be dependent, to a large extent, on the hiring rates for his livelihood, and, in any event, is probably making little, if any, profit, so that to treat the matter in this manner is practically a form of capital levy. What he has received in hire has probably already gone to meet his expenses.—En.]
DOES THE DRIVER OF A TOWED VEHICLE NEED A DRIVING LICENCE?
I-1 A LITTLE while ago I offended against the law and
am, unfortunately, disqualified from driving; therefore I abstain from so doing. I have a small business and naturally have to keep my costs as low as possible as I have to pay a driver.
Recently I purchased an unserviceable private car for breaking-up purposes; my driver and I took trade plates and collected the vehicle, the driver towing the unserviceable car home, whilst I sat in it and steered. It was definitely being towed and not mechanically driven, but we were stopped and I was summoned and fined for driving while disqualified, and yet, without being towed, the vehicle I was steering could not have been moved.
I am not in a position to go to a solicitor for advice, but as this point is of interest to many of your readers I should be glad if you would advise me if this convic tion be right. T.P, Croydon.
[In the view of legal experts, and as stated in Ernest Booth's "Road Traffic Manual" (Booth is Examiner to the Borough Police of Ashton-under-Lyne and Assistant Clerk of the Justices), although provisions have not been made under the Road Traffic Act, 1930, where a person is steering a motor which is broken down and being towed by another vehicle, instructions have been issued that no licence is necessary during that period by the person on the disabled vehicle, as he is not considered to be driving or steering. We can suggest only that you show this letter to the Clerk to the Magistrates. If you can obtain no satisfaction from him we will, in the interests of you and other people concerned in this matter, take it up with higher authorities. In the meantime, we would like to learn of the experiences of others in this connection or receive opinions as to the action of the magistrates concerned—En.]