Reform 0-licences, say Removers
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THE British Association of Removers has called for a radical reform of operators' licensing.
In a memorandum to the Department of Transport, the BAR says: "Licensing Authorities ought to be entitled to attach conditions that particular licence holders should not operate certain traffics or in certain areas, or both."
This reform would be reminiscent of the detailed restraints on B-licensees under the carriers' licensing laws before the 1968 Transport Act.
The Removers suggest that a licence holder who has demonstrated his unfitness to serve the public as a remover, by persistently damaging or losing the personal belongings of the public, may still be fit to earn his living by hauling coal, gravel or wastepaper on commercial contracts. "There are probably at most only a few dozen undesirable, unqualified or financially unsound firms making difficulties for the public," says the BAR.
"The trouble is that, as soon as one collapses under the weight of its iniquities, another springs up to take its place.
"At the moment there is nothing to prevent this happening over and over again. An extension of operators' licensing would for the first time enable pressure to be brought on the pirates and cheapjacks by giving them something to lose."
Many member firms of the Road Haulage Association would sympathise with the BAR's call for LAs to be stricter in considering the financial standing of 0-licence applicants.
The Removers urge that a Licensing Authority should be entitled to ask for an auditor's statement as to the amount of outstanding creditors, or for the amount of money paid in advance by customers which is not held in trust, both of which could affect an apparently favourable "financial position." (At the time of its liquidation, Seven Seas Transport Company, holder of an 0-licence, owed over E100,000 to members of the general public afone, apart from its 'trade creditors.)