A-licence Tanker Granted, But a "B " Vehicle is Suspended
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A SCOTTISH haulier was last week 2-1 allowed to take a 10.-ton tanker off contract A licence and put it on A licence because he wanted to carry oil for the competitors of the company he had previously worked for. He was Mr. Harry B. S. Lawson, Broughty Ferry, Dundee. At the same hearing, he had one of his B-licence vehicles suspended for six months as a punishment for irregular working.
Putting forward the tanker applica. tion, Mr. Lawson said the contract vehicle worked for H. M. F. Fauvre and Co., Ltd., oil importers and distributors, London. Besides this vehicle he had six A-licence units doing general haulage, including the carriage of oil. Three of them could be fitted with demountable tanks. He also had two B-licence vehicles and a small special-A van operating a carrier's service.
Mr. H. D. Storey, Fauvre's Scottish agent, said that since April there had been severe competition from other oil distributors so they had less traffic to offer Mr. Lawson, although they still had to pay him. There had been also a recession in the linoleum trade, which meant that less linseed oil was being carried. Mr. Lawson now wished to use the contract vehicle to work for their competitors.
Mr. J. Easson, of Wilson and Son (Dundee), Ltd., said Mr. Lawson's tankers had been carrying their oil since they recommenced crushing last year, and it was expected that production would double next year. He carried seed for them from Leith and Greenock docks to Dundee on platform lorries, and then he used tankers to haul the finished product.
There were objections by British Railways and James Hemphill, Ltd., Glasgow. Mr. W. MacMillan, of Hemphill's, said that out of their fleet of 53 A-licence vehicles, 39 could carry oil. They were already suffering from abstraction by Mr. Lawson.
Mr. Alex Robertson, Scottish Deputy Licensing Authority, granted the application after the proposed normal user had been amended.
When Mr. Lawson asked for the two B-licence vehicles to have a common normal user—" general goods within Central Scotland "—he said they were originally employed on the carrier service, but they had gradually departed from this work. The carrier's work had not been neglected, however.
Mr. Robertson granted the application, which was opposed by British Railways, but said Mr. Lawson would have to be punished for transferring the vehicles from their original work. From December 1, one of the vehicles would be suspended for six months,