Maintenance and Contract Vehicles " A CONTRACT A-licence vehicle, Cl
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once it is granted, is the equivalent of a vehicle on an A licence." In arguing this proposition before Sir William Hart, North-Western Deputy Licensing Authority, at Manchester, last Friday, Mr. H. Backhouse, as advocate for Foulkes and Bailey, Ltd., pointed out that a contract was accepted by Parliament under the 1933 Act as being automatic proof of need.
Once granted, it was on exactly the same footing as an A-licence vehicle, and the same provisions applied to both with regard to maintenance and repairs. Regulation 15 (concerning the temporary licensing of vehicles for repair purposes) was equally applicable to a Contract A as to an A-licence vehicle, and, if the fleet were big enough, there should be an appropriate permanent allowance of tonnage to cover niaintenance and repairs. The business of Foulkes and Bailey, Ltd., was described as radial distribution of goods from bases spread all over the country. The company had 138 vehicles, of which number, 32 at the Trafford Park base, in Manchester, were on A licences, with some 52 other vehicles on Contract A licences. The application was for three extra Alicence vehicles, mainly to meet the requirements of maintenance and repairs to machines employed on contract work.
Sir William Hart, in the course of the argument, said that he had grave doubts as to the form in which provision should be made for the maintenance of Contract A licence vehicles. Their maintenance was part of the contract and there were the questions as to the proportion of tonnage allowed for the purpose, and whether the applicant had already been given, in his previous grant, what he ought to have.
As there were 19 new contracts since the previous grant, he would consider the issues raised and give his decision due course.