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Authority Disregarded Act : Minister Overrules Inspector

24th October 1952
Page 28
Page 28, 24th October 1952 — Authority Disregarded Act : Minister Overrules Inspector
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

GWING decision in the appeal of the Hudson's this Co., Lincoln, against the refusal of the East Midland Licensing Authority to grant a licence, for an express service between Lincoln and Scarborough, the Minister of Transport has directed the Authority to re-hear the case.

The Minister declares that the Licensing Authority and the inspector who heard the appeal had not paid sufficient attention to the full wording of section 72 (3) of the Road Traffic Act, 1930. "that the Licensing Authority shall have regard to the extent to which the proposed service is necessary or desirable in the public interest."

Application to be Reheard

The Minister adds that he considered that a prima facie case for the service had been made out at the original hearing. As no evidence had been led by the objectors, the Licensing Authority's decision is to be set aside and the application re-heard.

For the appellants,. Mr. J. R. C. Samuel-Gibbon declared that the observations of the Licensing Authority had been " quite astonishing and deplorable." The licence had been sought for the service to run on Saturdays only from July to August.

Existing operators did not provide a through service, but the Lincolnshire Road Car Co., Ltd., and East Yorkshire Motor Services, Ltd., ran services on each side of the Humber estuary, which could be crossed by a Railway Executive ferry. The three operators were respondents.

In 1951, Hudson's had operated buses A26 for private parties between Lincoln and Scarborough. This was not relied on as evidence of need. Mr. SamuelGibbon declared that "to say that an applicant is not a fit and proper person is a very grave step when illegal running was not deliberate and persistent after warning."

The three otijectors did not provide a service, but a facility. The Licensing Authority has tried to coerce the applicant's opponent into applying for a licence to run a service, and was guilty of a flagrant misuse of power, said counsel.

In his observations, Mr. W. Tudor Davies, an inspector of the Ministry of Transport, recommending that the appeal be dismissed, held that "the unorthodoxy, not to say irregularity" of the hearing made it difficult to balance equities in this appeal.

It might be held that the decision was adumbrated before all the evidence had been heard. The application rested more on inconvenience than on need, which was not established in accordance with Section 72 of the Act.

He did not agree with the Licensing Authority that if need were proved, Hudson's would not have been the appropriate operator, because of the illegal running.

THESIGER MEETING POSTPONED

THE second meeting of the Thesiger Committee, which has been appointed by the Minister of Transport to inquire into public service vehicle licensing, was to have been held on Monday, but was postponed until October 31. The first meeting was purely procedural.


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