Authority Misled Over Excursion?
Page 42
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ACLAIM that the Eastern Licensing Authority had been misled was made by Mr. D. L. McDonnell, for Birch Bros., Ltd., who on Tuesday appealed against the grant of a licence to the United Counties Omnibus Co., Ltd., for excursions from Bedfordto Wembley Stadium for evening shows.
United Counties applied in August to run excursions all the year to Wembley Stadium for any event. They were allowed to operate an. excursion six times a year for evening ice-shows only.
Mr. McDonnell said there was no local demand for the service, because people in Bedford were already travelling to the Stadium. Evidence had been given at the inquiry that the application had been made at the request of the Stadium authorities, who said that they had few bookings from the Bedford area because there were no excursion facilities.
Counsel said that the Licensing Authority had been misled into making the wholly unjustified deduction that there were about 1,800 potential patrons of ice-shows in the Bedford area. Public evidence in support of the application was of the thinnest imaginable kind.
Mr. R. C. Oswald, for the respondents, said that in granting a limited licence, the Licensing Authority had related it to the evidence. The journey to Wembley by Birch bus from Bedford involved two changes. Those who wished to spend an evening at Wembley Stadium had to leave Bedford at 3.50 p.m. and did not return until 2.15 a.m. The coach excursion left at 5 p.m. and returned to Bedford by 1.15 a.m.