Railway and Co-operative Appeals Fail
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Although the Inspectors Recommended that they be Upheld, Two Recent Railway Appeals have been Dismissed : A Cooperative Society's Appeal for Tours Licences also Failed A LTHOUGH in two ,recent cases the tt Ministry of Transport inspectors advocated that appeals be upheld, the Minister dismissed both. In a third decision, the inspector's recommendaticin to dismiss the appeal Was followed. In both cases where the Minister had disagreed with the inspector's recommendation, the appeals had been lodged by the Railway-Executive.
In the first case, the R.E. appealed against the decision of the West Midland Licensing' -Authority to grant Imperial,. Motorways, Bromsgrove, licences Tor a weekly express service from Birmingham to Paris, via Dover, Folkestone or Newhaven. Picking-up points at Brornsgrove, Droitwich and Worcester were authorized and the service was granted for the period April-September. It was stated that the service was the first of its type.
Service for Old Ladies
The representative of the R.E. declared that no evidence of need had been produced for the service, that it would abstract traffic from the railways and that it was convenient only for nervous old ladies and children under 16.
For the respondents, it was pointed out how inconvenient railway travel to Paris could be from the Midlands. Ferry charges amounting to £68-£74 per coach would he paid to the railways.
The inspector, Mr. J. W Nelson, suggested that the appeal be allowed, as the route was adequately served by British and French railways. The appeal was dismissed with costs.
Appeal Against Two Coaches
Another railway appeal which was dismissed with costs, was against a decision' of the Northern Licensing Authority to vary an express-carriage licence for a Darlington-Blackpool service. This Permitted Messrs. Scott's Greys, Darlington, to run two extra vehicles on Saturdays in July and August.
For the appellant, it was suggested that the Licensing Authority did not carry out his tale functions, that he acted as judge and advocate, gave ex-parte evidence and was prejudiced. No proof of need had been produced, the extra duplication meant abstraction from the railways and although the application had asked for the additional vehicles from July 21, the decision granted them for the whole month. Mr. W Tudor Davies, who heard the appeal, agreed with this claim, and recommended that the appeal be upheld.
In a third case, the St. Helens Industrial Co-operative Society, Ltd., a34 appealed against the refusal of the North-western Licensing Authority to grant licences for a group of excursions and tours starting from St. Helens. The inspector's recommendations were that the society was a newcomer and that to
grant the licences would result in extra uneconomic running during the slack period.
For the appellant, it was stated that the licence was sought after the acquisition of an independent operator's business in 1948. New housing estates had provoked the need for the extra vehicles.
Some of the respondents (local operators and others) argued that the society, would have an unfair advantage, because lour-fifths of the population were members and every Co-operative shop Would be a free booking agent. The inspector agreed that preference should be given to existing operators.