Not a Newcomer, Tribunal Decide
Page 37
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
T"question of whether a person who seeks a licence for a motor vehicle in substitution for horse drawn transport can fairly be described as a newcomer to haulage was raised at the Transport Tribunal in London on Tuesday.
Mr. Leonard Smith, a Chelsea furniture remover and storer, appealed against the Metropolitan Licensing Authority's refusal to grant him a B licence to carry household furniture, baggage and personal effects within 50 miles. He was opposed by the British Transport Commission and Keen Transport, Ltd., Battersea.
Mr. B. E. Greene, for Mr. Smith, said he had been in business as a furniture remover in Chelsea since 1924, when he acquired a business established in 1875. The business was wholly dependent on horse drawn transport until 1952, when Mr. Smith decided it was time he switched to motor transport.
He had great difficulty in hiring, and in December, 1956, he applied for a B licence for a 3-ton lorry. This was refused, so last September he made a9 amended application, but again he met with a refusal. It was being unduly hard to regard Mr. Smith as a newcomer to haulage.
For the respondents, Mr. C. R.
Beddington said that as Mr. Smith had been using hired transport for the last six years, his ,application had to be treated as that of a newcomer who must establish need.
Mr. N. L. C. Macaskie, Q.C., announced that the Tribunal had decided to allow the appeal to the extent of granting a B licence for a 2-ton vehicle with a radius of 10 miles. He Pointed out that Mr. Smith was not in the true sense a newcomer to haulage.