Tribunal rules on centre size
Page 19
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• A haulier's op
erating centre
6 does not have to
be big enough to
cope with all the vehicles on its 0-licence, the Transport Tribunal decided last week. It granted an appeal by James Irlam & Sons of Chelford, Cheshire, against a refusal to add 20 vehicles and 30 trailers to its licence.
Last September Macclesfield Borough Council had told a public inquiry that the company was using greenbelt land outside its operating centre to park its existing vehicles without planning permission.
North Western Licensing Authority, Martin Albu had decided that the company's need for parking space was greater than the facilities available and refused the application.
John Backhouse, for the company, told the Tribunal that the Transport Act 1968 does not state that an operating centre has to be capable of accommodating all the authorised vehicles at one time.
He pointed out that vehicles are often away from an operating centre for maintenance, at customers' premises, on the road or even out of the country.
The company had said that it would not have more than 50 vehicles and 70 trailers at the operating centre at any one time, and Backhouse pointed out that the LA could have attached a licence condition imposing those limits.
Allowing the appeal, Tribunal president Robert Owen QC said the LA had been wrong to believe that an operator had to show there was enough parking space at his operating centre for his entire fleet. The application was remitted to the LA for further consideration.