Private Hire Illegal : Licence Refused T HE Northern Licensin g Authority,
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last week, refused a licence to Messrs. M.-Thomas, of Dearham, West Cumberland, to carry employees of Cumberland Childwear, Ltd., stating that it was for the regular operators, Cumberland Motor Services, Ltd., to have first chance of running the service. The clothing company's workers had been carried under contract, but this arrangement had been found to be illegal, because deductions for transport had been made from the employees' wages. Messrs. Thomas asked for a licence to provide the service and C.M.S. objected. Mr. R. Atkinson, for the applicants, said that C.M.S. had offered to hire a double-decker to Cumberland Childwear at £3 10s. a day. This figure was considered to be too high and Messrs. Thomas contracted to run a singledecker at £2 10s, a day. Dr. M. A. Steiner, director of Cumberland Childwear, said that C.M.S. had offered a special bus on condition that the working hours of the factory could be altered. This, however, was difficult to arrange. Mr. J. H. Carruthers, traffic manager of C.M.S., stated that his company were, willing to provide a single-decker if required. The Authority commented: This is not the first time, nor the second, that we have been faced by applications which have really been forced upon us by the inability, no doubt quite honestly expressed, of C.M.S. to respond to applications. We don't like being placed in this position and the general public don't understand it. I hope that matters can be arranged in the future so that we are not placed in this awkward position."
SIX-WHEELED LORRY INTO FOUR-WHEELED BUS
THE first of 30 single-deck four' wheeled buses to be converted from Leyland Hippo six-wheeled lorries has recently been put into service by the road transport department of the Nizam State Railway, Hyderabad. The conversion was undertaken because of weight restrictions on vehicles using country roads. As four-wheeled buses, the vehicles will be suitable for city work. The rear bogie of the chassis was removed and replaced by a single axle midway between the two original axles. This gave a wheelbase of 15 ft. 6 in. One of the trunnion-bracket lugs was machined off the axle to enable U-bolts to be fitted to take semi-elliptic springs. The original tyres were replaced by 12.00-20 in. equipment at the front and twin 9.00-20 in. at the rear. Chassis conversion and bodybuilding were both done in the department's own workshops. The vehicle weighs 10 tons 12 cwt. laden and seats 44 passengers. The short wheelbase of the bus affords good manceuyrability.