Should Packing Factor Affect Licences?
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WHETHER the packing of goods for VT transport should be a factor under the licensing system was raised in the final submission heard on February 22 in the case of L. M. Dean Transport, of Manchester, which applied for two additional 2i-ton vehicles chiefly for cotton and machinery transport.
Trade witnesses, called on earlier days of the bearing, had said that the fact that their goods went by road and were unpacked from door to door was material because the railways would not accept these goods unless they were packed in cases. This packing called for joiners and skilled men and frequently also involved the dismantling of intricate and delicate machinery. One witness had stated that the cost of packing would make all the difference between profit and loss.
Mr. P. Kershaw, counsel for the railway companies, asked Sir William Hart to consider whether the packing or not of goods was anything that should weigh in regard to " suitability " of the transport facilities. Rates charged or the fact of warehousing had not to be regarded as factors of suitability or unsuitability, and he submitted that packing was virtually in the same category.
Mr. H. Backhouse, for the applicants, replied that although they must
not have regard to rates as they affected the cartage of goods, nobody had ever said rates could not be taken into account where it was a question of costs for collection and delivery or conveyance to warehouses and extra handling. He quoted the instance of big machinery being conveyed from the works where it was made to the factory where it was to be used. To go by rail it would have to be taken to pieces and packed in specially constructed cases. It could not possibly be said the railways were suitable for a job like that. Sir William Hart stated that it was his intention to take advice on the question.