13.T C. Barks Up the Wrong Tree
Page 39
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By A. E. Sherlock-Mesher, F.R.S.A.
THE announcement in "The Commercial Motor," last week, that Miers Transport, Ltd., Wolverhampton, had -secured the withdrawal of a notice of acquisition served by the British Transport Commission, marked the culmination of a battle of words and wills extending over four months. I am now able to tell the story of wasted time and money that lies behind this extraordinary matter.
Miers Transport, Ltd., runs 22 vehicles and has been engaged in milk transport for 25 years. In the year ended December 31, 1946, the company's receipts for the collection of milk in churns from farms within a 25-mile radius were £12,786 4s. 3d., for bulk milk in tankers (exempt traffic under the Transport Act) £6,246 5s. 8d., and for general haulage (shortand longdistance) £3,541 16s. id.
The dispute started when the B.T.C. served a notice of acquisition dated. April 1, which was to take effect on August 11. In reply, Miers Transport, Ltd., served a counter-notice requiring withdrawal of the notice of acquisition. Then the B.T.C. appointed a chartered accountant in Wolverhampton to carry out an investigagation on its behalf.
Another dispute—this time on etiquette in the accountancy profession—ensued. Mr. John Wootton, F.C.A., of John Wootton and Co., chartered accountants, who had been auditor and internal accountant to Miers Transport, Ltd., for some 20 years, complained to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of an alleged breach of "ethics and normal courtesy " by the B.T.C., in appointing another chartered accountant to handle the case. Mr. Wootton said that he had received no formal communication on the subject, and added: " If the Commission's action is a general practice, it can hardly fail to undermine the confidence and tend to lower the standards to which professional men and their clients have long been accustomed."
The next development was a letter from the B.T.C.'s solicitor to Miers Transport, Ltd., stating that the Commission's accountant had been instructed to investigate and report, and asking the company to produce books of account, etc., and to provide all the information that might be required.
Thrown Open to Investigation Facilities for investigation were offered by Miers Transport, Ltd., in a letter dated May 14, and on subsequent occasions. In fact, the company would not allow its audited accounts to be scrutinized, because its financial year ended on March 31 and the B.T.C. required audited accounts for the year to December 31. The company's prepared accounts would, therefore, have afforded no assistance.
The B.T.C. continued to press for the submission of the audited accounts for the purpose of examining the figure for haulage work certified by the company's own accountant. The Commission's accountant asked, in addition, for a certificate of haulage work done in the year to December 31, 1946, analysed to show separately the bulk milk traffic, the general milk traffic and other haulage. In connection with "other haulage," the B.T.C.'s accountant admitted that comparison between traffic carried within a 25-mile radius and that carried beyond that distance was not necessary, "as it would make very little difference to the total figures, as this item is only a small percentage of the total turnover."' Among other required guaraotees (including confirmation that the tanks were permanently fixed to the lorries) was a certificate from the Milk Marketing Board that the milk collections were within a 25-mile radius, because, said the B.T.C. accountant, "if it is a fact that practically the whole of the milk is collected from farms within a radius of 25 miles . . . and the milk collection constitutes practically the whole of the haulage done, then there would appear to be no further steps necessary in the investigation." The certificate was supplied by the M.M.B. on June 17, but despite the B.T.C.'s assurance that no further investigation would be necessary, the battle dragged on.
Time and Money Wasted Meanwhile, Mr. R. P. Miers, through his accountant, told the B.T.C. plainly that he considered that time and money were being wasted for the public and those closelyconcerned, and that the information could well have been elicited beforehand by reference to his accountant. Mr. Miers held that his accountant's certification of the facts should have been accepted.
Mr. Miers remained adamant in demanding that if the B.T.C. wished to have audited accounts for a period different from that for which they had already been prepared, it should pay its own accountant to abstract the information, instead of placing the onus and expense on his shoulders. .
On June 17 the B.T.C. accountant was still trying to inveigle Mr. Miers into supplying audited accounts "for the purpose of verifying that the total shown on the certificate bears some relation to that shown on the accounts." The accountant added that he was not paid a fixed fee for the investigation, but according to the amount of time spent on any case. In this instance, the cost to the public of four months' needless dispute must have been appreciable.
On July 2, Mr. Miers repeated his offer, to have his invoices and books scrutinized by -the B.T.C., but the Commission must at last have realized that a delicate professional question was involved, and that, in any event, it had been barking up the wrong tree.
On August 3, an imposing yellow foolscap sheet— much of which was blank—was sent to inform Meirs Transport, Ltd., that the B.T.C. had withdrawn its notice of acquisition.
As if the directors' patience had not already been sufficiently taxed, the West Midland Licensing Authority next day unwittingly added insult to injury by requesting that, as Meirs Transport, Ltd., was to be taken over on August 11, its carrier licences should be returned for cancellation!
Thus the weary process of nationalization continues. The case outlined may be an isolated one, but, in essence, it is being reproduced in many other walks of life, and is one of the reasons that a formerly robust Britain has become frustrated and enervated.