Objectors' plea of "excess" whittles BR grant to 13
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BRITISH RAILWAYS has been granted 13 of the 22 Freightliner artics which it applied for in Birmingham, to service the Dudley terminal. In a written decision on the application—which drew 74 road objectors—the West Midland Licensing Authority, Mr. J. Else, says he is satisfied that the objectors established that a full grant would create excess
facilities.
On Friday, at the end of a three-day resumed hearing, West Midland hauliers offered BR 28 vehicles on a permanent or regular basis to carry out c. and d. work. Eighteen of the objectors gave evidence. Mr. J. Stannard, of Stannard Transport Ltd., handed in a schedule of Freightliner rates which had come into his possession. This showed that when calculating a charge for its Freightliner service between Birmingham and Glasgow which included collection and delivery, BR added £7 lOs per container on the terminal-to-terminal charge for a 27/30ft container in the "outer" collection zone at Dudley.
Many of the objectors were then asked to give a rate which they would charge BR for the hire of a vehicle on a daily basis. Mr. N. Cartwright, of P. H. Cartwright and Sons Ltd., quoted a hire charge of £13 lOs for a vehicle capable of carrying the small 10ft container and 42s 6d an hour, with a minimum of nine hours, as an average charge for a vehicle to carry the large 30ft container.
Mr. R. M. Brunch, director, E. and J. Davis Ltd., referring to the schedule of potential Freightliner business, said they carried five consignments a fortnight to Stockton for Forgings and Presswork and he feared abstraction of this traffic.
In the year April 1965 to March 1966,
Male and Son (Pensnett) Ltd. had received £20,280 of business from BR. Since March this year they had done £6 said its chairman, Mr. J. Male. They' could place four vehicles at the disposal of BR, including three capable of carrying the large containers.
For BR, Mr. H. Mann agreed to a radius reduction from 50 to 40 miles on two of the vehicles applied for.
On behalf of some of the objectors, Mr. N. Carless said they accepted that 36 vehicles were required to serve the depot. Fourteen vehicles were to he transferred by BR to Dudley which, he said, would form the nucleus which the Transport Tribunal had ruled was necessary for these depots. No evidence had been called to show that hiring had proved unsatisfactory elsewhere and, since the objectors had promised BR 28 vehicles, he asked the LA to refuse the application.
Since it was inevitable that hauliers would lose some of their long-distance traffic, said Mr. J. Foley Egginton, was it not right that BR should hire from them for the c. and d. work to utilize the spare capacity that this abstraction would cause?
The Tribunal had criticized objectors for relying on the recession for spare vehicles to offer BR, said Mr. F. Skelding. This was not the case here, since vehicles would be made available by fleet reorganization.
In his decision, Mr. Else accepts that the weekly use of containers will quickly build up to 338, requiring 36 c. and d. vehicles at Dudley. It is not sufficient, he asserts, for objectors merely to establish that a grant would result in excess facilities; vehicles must be suitable for the work, and some regard must be had to charges.
Mr. Else continues: "At times the evidence, discussion and argument ... might have made a stranger within the gates wonder if hiring was a dirty word describing some dubious hole-in-the-corner transaction. This is nonsense." And the LA says that regular hiring would permit "effective integration" into the Freightliner c. and d. organization. He also thinks the hauliers' vehicles suitable for carrying containers.
Assessing the excess as being at least 10 suitable vehicles for regular daily hiring, the LA nevertheless agrees that the smooth start of the operation demands a nucleus of BR vehicles.
His grant is therefore limited to: two vehicles for c. and d. of railborne traffic within 40 miles of Dudley, six vehicles within 30 miles and five within 20 miles.