No C to B Transfer for B.R.S. Heavy Haulage
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A N application by B.R.S. (Pickfords), Ltd., to transfer a 5-ton platform• " lorry from a C to a B licence was refused at Manchester last week by Mr. J. R. Lindsay; North Western Deputy Licensing Authority.. If it had been granted; the British Transport Commission would have gained their first .B licence.
During the hearing, Mr. J. A. Dunkerley, for the objectors, Contractors Transport, Ltd., Stockport, disagreed strongly with Mr. Lindsay and announced that he was not prepared to continue with the case.
• The Vehicle was used mainly to carry equipment and crews to sites for unloading and assembling abnormal indivisible loads. Pickfords sought the conditions, "general goods, mainly ancillary to the carriage of indivisible loads, as required."
Mr. A. W. Balne, on their behalf, said that because of legal technicalities odd pieces could not be carried with such loads. It would be much more economical if they could be carried on this vehicle. In addition, a " flat " was required for unloading small items on to high platforms and for delivery from store.
No Evidence Cross-examined by Mr. Dunkerley, a Pickfords' witness agreed they had produced no evidence of need, and said that odd pieces from heavy loads, up to two tons, had occasionally been carried without charge by the C-licence vehicle.
Re-examining, Mr. Balne suggested that the cross-examination had been so ingenious and skilful that the witness had had no proper opportunity of answering, whereupon. Mr. Dunkerley protested.
Mr. Lindsay: "Mr. Dunkerley, please allow Mr. Balne to go on. I sometimes wonder whether you want to run the proceedings."
Mr. Dunkerley replied that he was not willing to continue in the case. There seemed to be a leaning towards B.R.S. He objected to the re-examination and to the comments that had been made.
After an adjournment, Mr. Lindsay announced that the case would continue.
Wide Benefits Mr. Dunkerley then submitted that the legal effect of granting the licence with the conditions applied for would be to enable Pickfords to carry general goods anywhere and have benefits equal to an A and C licence combined. They were asking for a grant on their own unsupported evidence.
The offer to surrender a C licence in the Metropolitan Area was useless without details of the user of their C-licence fleet. The potential effect would be to release a heavy vehicle.
If the application was based on inconvenience to customers, there was no evidence. If Pickfords were trying to regularize work done irregularly under C licence, the Transport Tribunal Ala had said many times that this was not sufficient to justify a grant. It had been suggested that subsidiary parts of goods carried under A licence could be transported under C licence without charge, but todo so to retain goodwill was carriage for reward. If the application were granted, any C-licensee could obtain a B licence.
Mr. Balne replied that Pickfords were not asking to be treated differently from other heavy hauliers. The application was purely for convenience in a highly technical field. There was no principle involved, because it was special work done by only a handful of operators.
There had been a clear declaration of intention that the vehicle would not be used for general haulage and that 90 per cent would be C-licence work. In the Carmichael appeal, the Tribunal had ruled that a declaration of intention could be a sufficient safeguard.
Refusing the application, Mr. Lindsay said he had to make up his mind whether to depart from the usual licensing principles; in his view there was insufficient evidence to justify his doing so.
CENTRIFUGAL CLUTCH FOR ALL MODELS
THE Leyland 16.25 in. diameter single-dry-plate centrifugal clutch, which was fitted to the Atlantean rearengine double-decker shown at the Commercial Motor Show last September, is now in quantity production.
It is offered as an alternative to a hydraulic coupling in all Leyland passenger chassis fitted with PneutnoCyclic semior fully automatic gearboxes. The clutch was described in The Commercial Motor on September 7, 1956.
B.T.C. BUSES DROP £1.77m.
REVENUE from the British Transport Commission's provincial and Scottish bus undertakings dropped by £1.77m. in the four weeks to August 11, as compared with the corresponding period of 1956. The bus strike from July 20-28 is undoubtedly responsible
for this decline. In considering the amount it is necessary, however, to take into account increases in fares which have taken place since last year.
Receipts in this year's four-week period were £3,852,000, compared with £5,626,000.