Siddle Cook Seeks Big Vehicle
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nECLAR1NG that there had not been an increase in the haulage business in .1--1 the North-east, Mr. E. G. Milne, area manager of B.R.S. (Pickfords), Ltd., opposed an application in Newcastle upon Tyne this week by Siddle C. Cook, Ltd., of Consett, Co. Durham, This company asked the Northern Licensing Authority, Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, for permission to add to its •A licence a 121-ton tractor, a low-loader trailer (u.l.w. 20 tons) and two steerable dolleys.
Renewing the adjourned application, Mr. T. H. Campbell Wardlaw told the Authority that Mr. Cook had now prepared further information about his fleet and the gross receipts for certain haulage work undertaken by the company for three years. These figures had been sent to the L.A.'s office a few days ago.
Mr. Siddle C. Cook, managing director of the ' company, gave evidence of accounts from customers exceeding £1,000 in the last three years, and said they had been certified by an accountant. After giving details of orders accepted, he said: " We are still very busy and the need for these additional vehicles is as pressing as ever."
Last week, he added, he moved a 58-ton load on a 24-wheel trailer, which was not a very suitable vehicle because it could not be manoeuvred as well as the dolleys.
Cross-examined by Mr. I. Robey, for the objectors, Mr. Cook said he would not deny that at Sheffield there were two dolleys of 35 tons capacity, two of 20 tons, two of 60 and two of 80. Mr. Robey also said that at Glasgow there were two dolleys of 60 tons capacity, two of 30 and two of 20 tons. He pointed out that, according to Mr. Cook's own figures, there had not been any substantial increase in the firm's tonnages.
Mr. Cook: "The increase may be in the distances. 1 cannot say for sure."
Re-examined by Mr. Wardlaw, Mr. Cook said specialist traffic over the last three years had increased by about 25 per cent. so far as his firm was concerned. Emphasizing that the firm wished to go in for this type of work, Mr. Cook said: "What I am trying to do is bring more up-to-date methods into the business. We are not trying to break into another field of haulage, but to meet the demands of all our customers, whose equipment is getting larger and larger as time goes on.,
• For the objectors, Mr. Robey said the application by Siddle C. Cook, Ltd.. was very substantial. If ever an application could be won by sheer weight of numbers, this was it.
Mr. Milne said Pickfords operated 19 vehicles in the north, including two of 30 tons at Birtley and two of 30 and 35 tons each at Leeds, as well as two of 35, two of 20. two of 60 and two of 80 tons at Sheffield.
The application was adjourried to a date to be fixed.