Hiring Not Affected by Extra Lorry
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ARAILWAY contention that the grant of an additional vehicle would allow an operator to take work from hired vehicles was not accepted by the North-Western Deputy Licensing Authority at Chester.
He was considering an application by Messrs. Thomas Bros., 34, Salop Road, Wrexham, for the renewal of their A licences for 14 vehicles and one trailer (431 tons) and a replacement vehicle of 21 tons. The firm also required an A licence for an additional 3-ton vehicle to be acquired.
Mr. Ouseley Smith, for the applicants, produced figures calculated on the Hawker formula, to show that on the 1935-36 figures the applicants would be entitled to 65 tons of unladen weight an 1 on the six months' figures from March to September, 1936, they could justify a tonnage of '711. Mr. F. G. Thomas said that the increase in his business was largely in connection with the building trade. As a result of his not being able to carry a certain customer's goods without the use of hired vehicles, that customer had purchased two machines on C licences. He contended that the grant of this vehicle was essential to the maintenance of his business. The increased traffic was not due to reduced rates. The extra vehicle was mainly to relieve the pressure on his own machines; it would not enable him to divert work from the hired vehicles, but it might slightly relieve hiring.
In his submission, Mr. II. F. Storge, for the railways, pointed out that, for some time, two vehicles had regularly been employed on hire by the applicants to the extent of two or three times per week, and, in his opinion, if the additional vehicle were allowed, part of that work would be withdrawn from them.
Sir William Hart said that he would grant the application. The evidence tended to show that the business had increased, and the fact that it was continuing to expand was borne out by the increasing hiring. He did not think it had been shown that this work would be taken from the hired vehicles.