LICENSING CASEBOOK by NORMAN '11.TILSLEY licence upon the sole .
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ground that he could carry unspecified return loads thereby being able to keep his rates down, the Tribunal said that Mr. Hodgson had attached the wrong importance to the fact that Clark already held a B licence. The application was foe a new A licence, it said, and not a transfer from B to A.
The fact that Clark already held a B licence had put him into the position of being able to show that there was a certain amount of traffic which he could carry if he had an A licence. That fact, the Tribunal said, was not a reason why Clark should not hold an A licence, His B licence could be explained by the fact that he and his father before him had engaged in another businessin addition to haulage. But Clark was now only a haulier, and his application had to be considered on that footing;
This appeal result, as I said earlier, has aroused a great deal of interest. In the East Midlands area the objectors and, I understand, the Authority himself, are very surprised; but the fact remains that at long last the original, basic underlying principles of licensing are, it seems, going to be upheld by the Tribunal—that a haulier proper is entitled to an A licence, not a B. The public carrier has, it seems, come back into his own, and it is this that transport lawyers and advocates applaud in the recent Clark judgment. (I should mention here that a spokesman at Road Haulage Association headquarters told me that the Association " welcomed " the decision.) This will put an end to the continual suggestion by British Railways; at public inquiries, that a haulier should be given licence instead of an A, in an attempt to restrict his activities ", One advocate told me recently.
It should, but will it, I wonder? Persons whose sole business is that of hauling other people's goods for hire and reward will, no doubt, be happy about the principle; but, remember, it cuts both ways!