Vehicles overworked?
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• No judgment was given when the Transport Tribunal heard the appeal of Sutton and Sons (St. Helens) Ltd. in London on Tuesday. The appeal arose from the decision of the North Western deputy LA to add eight extra vehicles to the A licence of Heatons Transport (St. Helens) Ltd.
Mr. J. A. Backhouse, for the appellant, said that, although Heatons had claimed at the public inquiry that its vehicles were being overworked, there had been no evidence presented that proved this the figures presented before the deputy LA, he thought, were quite insufficient.
It was admitted at the inquiry, he said, that the traffic being carried by Heatons for its biggest customer, Rockware Glass Ltd., had been decreasing and was expected to decrease further in the future. A spokesman for Rockware had suggested that this was due to the "squeeze" and the recession in business that government policy was having.
Mr. Backhouse submitted that there was no justification for eight additional vehicles on Heatons' A licence. Eight vehicles, Ile continued, would not even have been needed on contract or to do the sub-contracted work that Rockware felt was not being done sufficiently well.
Mr. G. P. Crowe, for Heatons Transport, contended that the respondent's fleet was indeed overworked. In granting additional vehicles, he suggested. the deputy LA had provided advantages both to the applicant and its customer, and had done away with the need to employ unsatisfactory subcontractors.
The Tribunal will give its judgment in writing.