Met Application May Be Published in North
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BY coincidence, this question came up in the Metropolitan court before Mr. D. I. R. Muir, the Licensing Authority, only last week when Chemitrade Ltd., of London, sought to vary a B licence by the addition of Iwo tankers. Chernitrade holds a B licence conditioned: "Bulk liquid chemicals for Shawingan Ltd. from storage depots in the United Kingdom owned or leased by the licensee to factories or other places in the United Kingdom ".
Apart from asking to add a further two vehicles, the applicant wished to increase the conditions by adding: "or for Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd., from I.C.I. plant at Billingham and Methanol for C.1.B.A. (A.R.L.) Ltd., from railway sidings at Harstort and Great Chesterford, Cambridge, to the plant of C.I.B.A. (A.R.L.) Ltd., at Duxford. Cambridge ".
Mr. Muir was told that Chemitradc tankers visited IC,]. Billinghatn on average about 30 times a year, and on those occasions the company wanted to bring back return loads of I.C.I. liquids-to the South.
In Newcastle Area
A witness from I.C,I. stated during the case that the loads were at present being carried by hauliers mainly in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne area, • and that if anybody was going to lose any traffic, it would be those Newcastle people.
In view of this, Mr.' Muir said that he felt that an opportunity should be given to hauliers in the Northern area to object. He said that he proposed to hear the case and then 'reserve his decision until he had contacted Mr. Hanlon, the Northern Licensing .Authority. 'If it was decided to publish the application in the Northern As and Ds and .any objectors came forward, then Mr. Miiir proposed to reopen the case to give the, new objectors a chance of putting their. ease. , The application was eventually adjourned for this to be done and I am sure that I am not the only , one who will await with interest to See whether Mr. Hanlon does, in fact, publish the application in his area's As and Ds.
Unless an operator is prepared to go to the expense of obtaining As and Ds from all areas, and has the time to peruse them all; or unless the application is substantial enough to be published in the weekly feature "Haulage Applications" in The Commercial Motor (as, indeed, the Chcmitradc Ltd. application was)'it is impossible for hauliers to find out whether an application made in another area is going to affect his livelihood. There have been suggestions in the past that goods vehicle licensing should follow the pattern of p.s.v. licensing, which allows for the backing of licences on vehicles passing through other areas. Perhaps this is something that could be considered by the Geddes Committee.