"Flimsy Case For Eire Tours Grant
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A MAJORITY decision by the South
Eastern Traffic Commissioners, which allowed Reliance Motor Services (Newbury), Ltd., to run extended tours to Eire, was based on one of the flimsiest cases ever put forward, Mr. J. R. S. SamuelGibbon declared at a Reading inquiry last week. He told Sir Hugh Dow, acting as inspector for the Minister of Transport, that it was the first time in his experience that the Commissioners had seen fit to disclose a division of opinion among themselves.
Mr. Samuel-Gibbon was appearing for the Thames Valley Traction Co., Ltd., who asked that the grant should be set aside. He pointed out that Thames Valley were already licensed to run Eire tours through an associated company, picking up passengers from Oxford. Newbury was within their catchment area, and to suggest that the bus journey to Oxford was an ordeal was "verging on phantasy."
The Commissioners agreed that the catchment area should be large, but their ir)8 majority view was that Reliance should be allowed to operate from Newbury to Eire because the journey to Oxford stopped many people from making use of the existing facilities, They also felt that the abstraction of traffic from Thames Valley would be small.
However, the Commissioner who dissented from this view thought there was no real difficulty in reaching Oxford. He suggested that the application should he refused because there would be considerable abstraction of traffic and because supporting witnesses had not made a spontaneous demand.
This was the right view, for to superimpose the new service on Thames Valley's operations might mean that neither company would be able to run economically.
For Reliance, Mr. J. Marshall claimed that Thames Valley did little to cater for the extended tour needs of Newbury, an area which was of sufficient importance to have its own facilities.
The inquiry was closed.