Exposing Licensing Anomalies
Page 58
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W/E are now able to reveal some of VV the points which the Motor Hirers and Coach Services Association, through the British Road Federation, hopes to raise in Parliament during the Committee of Supply on the Ministry of Transport vote. The Association will expose, through sympathetic Members of Parliament, various deficiencies of the existing administrative system affecting coach and bus operators, but will not attempt to introduce, at this stage, amending legislation.
The subject will be approached from the point of view of the general public, and criticism will be made of the•existing appeal policy of the Minister of Transport, the limitation of the duplication of long-distance coaches, the prohibition of the issue of single and period-return tickets on seasonal ex press services from certain coastal resorts to London, and the anomalous position regarding rail and road fares.
The desirability of the issue of experimental licences to enable evidence of the public need for new services to be adduced, will be urged. The Association will also stress the importance of the extension of the period of validity of road service licences from one year to three years. The Minister has power to make regulations in this connection under the Road Traffic Act, 1934.
Other points to be dealt with are the serious delays that occur in certain areas in the hearing of applications, and the severe limiting of picking-up points. It is understood that only about 3 per cent, of the applications for new picking-up points succeed.