A LTHOUGH 19 operators had
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objected against the establishment of a bus station at Spennymoor (The Commercial Motor, November 13), the Northern Traffic Commissioners last week ruled that all through and terminal services, except seasonal express services to Blackpool and London, would use the station if the Minister of Transport confirmed an order by Spennymesar Urban District Council. The council had offered to waive charges for the use of the station.
At the conclusion of the five-day hearing, Mr. T. H. Campbell Wardlaw, for the independent operators, said that the provision of a bus station had not been forced on the council by a traffic problem nor by any public demand.
The new site would mean that schedules would be thrown out of gear, and the many hundreds of crossings of the line of traffic by public service vehicles would create congestion, danger and loss of travelling time. If the order were confirmed, something like £20,000 of public money would have been wantonly spent.
Mr. J. L. R. Croft, for United Automobile Services, Ltd., and other large companies, said that 393 vehicles daily would be involved in a "hazardous manceuvre " at a congested point, instead of the 123 now crossing the High Street at intervals during the day.
. On behalf of the council, Mr. W. Steer sympathized with operators who would lose sections of their routes, but claimed that the bus station might attract more passengers. The site was conveniently off the main road but in the centre of the town, and road safety was the paramount consideration.
Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, who was sitting as an inspector on behalf of the Minister of Transport as well as chairman, said that he would make his recommendations to the Minister in due course.
The Commissioners were satisfied that there had been an increase in traffic in recent years and it would be most desirable to operate from a central bus station. The licences of both through and terminal operators would be varied.
The few express services passing through the town in the summer would not be affected. If any aggrieved parties wished to appeal, the Minister would have both matters before him at the same time.