"A" Licences. to Replace Trade Plates?
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WHE case of a firm who began spe cialized work during the war and were refused "A" licences last January for three units, came before the Appeal Tribunal last week.
'Messrs, Page, of Slough, a firm who held no licences in 1939, were dismantlers and breakdown specialists, and during the war they were engaged on clearing Ministry of Supply dumps of armoured fighting vehicles, including heavy German Tanks. For this work they employed breakdown cranes and three articulated low-loading tractortrailers, which all ran under trade plates.
After the war they applied for "A" licences for the articulated outfits, but were refused them by the Metropolitan Deputy Licensing Authority. At the appeal hearing, Mr. F. A. Stockdale submitted that ample evidence of need had been made out to justify the grant of a licence. Several factories on the Slough Trading Estate needed low-loading trailers on occasions, but could obtain them only from haulage companies as far away as London, or from the Great Western Railway Co., which was generally too busy to undertake the work.
Counsel asked the Tribunal not to consider the appellants as unfit to hold licences because they had Tun under trade plates when Defence Permits should have been obtained for the work. The times when the firm did the work were unsettled.
Mr, Norman Letts, representing two local haulage concerns amongst the respondents, submitted that insufficient evidence of need had been given. The work for the Ministry of Supply would end in a few months, whilst jobs for local factories were infrequent and could easily be tackled, if sufficient notice were given, by existing contractors.
The Tribunal's decision was reserved.