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Rejection for seven operators

28th October 1977
Page 29
Page 29, 28th October 1977 — Rejection for seven operators
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

ALL THE operators involved in the battle over the provision of extended tour facilities from the West Yorkshire town of Birstall (CM April 15 and June 3), have had their applications refused by the Yorkshire Traffic Commissioners.

The struggle began earlier in the year when, after the failure of two bids to obtain a licence by the small independent — Gordon Lumb, trading as Nova Coaches — Wallace Arnold Tours, National Travel (East) Ltd, Shearings Holidays Ltd, Pleasureways (1955) Ltd, Heaps Tours Ltd, and Happiway Tours (Manchester) Ltd, all lodged applications for picking-up facilities in the town.

In their decision on the last application by Nova Coaches, the Commissioners had said that, although they believed the existing facilities were adequate, a pick-up point in Birstall would be an improvement.

These comments sparked applications from Wallace Arnold and National Travel — who had opposed Nova Coaches — quickly followed by the other operators.

Having reserved decision on the other applications after earlier hearings, the Commissioners dealt with the Heaps Tours application at Leeds..

For Heaps, John Backhouse said the Wallace Arnold network was like a "spider's web" centred on Leeds. Wallace Arnold, he said, was able to offer a comprehensive programme through gathering together small groups of passengers from a large number of pick-up points.

However, there were people who used the facilities of the other operators. These people often had to join tours at points less convenient than those of Wallace Arnold which showed that convenience of pick-up point was not a prime factor in their choice. A grant to Wallace Arnold, alone, would be of no assistance to those people.

Refusing all the applications, the chairman, Major-General John Carpenter, said that, although public witnesses had said a Birstall point would be more convenient, there was no evidence to suggest that anyone had been unable to take a holiday or that there had been any undue hardship or difficulty.

The Commissioners believed that to grant facilities to all operators would create wasteful competition.


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