One-vehicle Operator Loses Business : Appeal Fails
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THE Transport Tribunal have now
I dismissed an appeal, during the hearing of which (The Commercial Motor, May 13) they said that the appellant had been denied natural justice. They referred the case back to the West Midland Licensing Authority for further consideration.
Mr. G. E. White, a one-vehicle operator who was in business before 1933, appealed against the Licensing Authority's refusal to reinstate a vehicle deleted from his A licence, It was deleted under Section 10 (3) of the Road and Rail Traffic Act, 1933, because it was not being used.
American Vehicle Broke Down
It was of American make and in July, 1953, had suffered severe mechanical damage. Parts could not he obtained from America and had to he made in Britain, with the result that the vehicle was not fit for the road until March, 1954.
An unsuceessful application was then made to reinstate it to the licence. Mr. White did not appeal, but made a second application, which was again refused. Mr. White then lodged an appeal.
In their written judgment the
ribunal said: "The appellant had a plan to anticipate the evidence of objectors. He wrote using the names of three of his friends to each of 16 furniture removers in and about Birmingham, offering employment for a
specific but fictitious job. Only one accepted, and for him the appellant .5;lys he arranged for a suitable real job. Most of the others refused outright. "
Some offered to do the work on a later .day, some said they were booked up for a long time ahead. Only the answers were in evidence, but. it was possible to deduce from these that nearly all the offers were restricted to 'a Saturday and that the notice was very short. We do not think that this experiment shows any shortage of transport facilities, for• if the requirements were fictitious, the failure to meet them cannot have been real."
Unreliable Records
Mr. White's records were described as "confused, incomplete and unreliable."
in February, 1954, the Licensing Authority's clerk, without any previous warning, told Mr. White that the vehicle would be deleted immediately. The Tribunal had no power to entertain an appeal against such a direction.
" But we think," they said, "natural justice requires that a Licensing Authority before exercising such a power as this, should communicate to the licensee the information on which he proposes to act and give him an opportunity to disprove or explain it away.
"Failure to do this in the present case may have been no more than a technical error, but it is a matter to which we attach importance. We therefore invited the Licensing Authority (without, however, giving him any direction) to put himself now, so far as possible, in the position in which he found himself on receipt of the information referred to, and, neglecting all subsequent events, to give the appellant now the opportunity which he ought to have been afforded then of showing cause why the vehicle should not be removed.
"We have now been informed by the Licensing Authority that he has complied with our invitation by holding a public inquiry . . . and that nothing disclosed would have altered his
decision. . ."
"The appeal is therefore dismissed."
NO SIMMS TAKE-OVER
RECENT rumours concerning the future of Simms Motor Units, Ltd., were denied by Mr. G. E. Liardet, chairman, at the annual meeting last Friday. In reply to a question, he said that there had been no negotiations for a take-over, and he was unaware that any bid might be made.
"In our light to maintain competition in the supply of certain most vital components for the commercial vehicle industry," Mr. Liardet said in his statement, "we have had much support and encouragement from our large customers:" Research and development were now being pursued actively on fuel-injection and electrical apparatus for the small, high-speed oil engines that would come into production in the next few years.
56.7% OF HACKNEYS ARE OILERS
IN the quarter ended September 30,
1954, of 107,596 hackney vehicles licensed, 42,769 (39.8 per cent.) had petrol engines, and 61,019 (56.7 per cent.) oil engines. A further 3,808 (3.5 per cent.) had other forms of propulsion.
Of 1,032.308 goods vehicles, 934,390 (90.5 per cent.) were petrol-engined, 78,411 (7.6 per cent.) oil-engined, and 19,507 (1.) per cent) otherwise powered.
NEW A.P.V. DEVELOPMENTS
" r ERTA1N new developments are in prospect " by the transport tank department of the A.P.V. Co., Ltd., Dr. R. J. S. Seligman, chairman, announced last week. They should, he added, maintain the activity of the department for some time to come. Orders for transport tanks last year were much greater than in 1953, and the level of production was expected to be maintained.
Need Inconvenience be Proved ?
A N applicant did not have to show
that customers had been inconvenienced, it was submitted to the Transport Tribunal last week by Mr. D. McDonnell, for H. W. Clarke and Sons (Erith), Ltd., Anchor Bay Wharf, Erith.
All he needed to prove was that he was being offered more work and that he would not be able to do it unless he
had more facilities. The onus then passed to the objector to show what unused facilities he had, Mr. McDonnell added.
The British Transport Commission
appealed against the grant to the company. by the. Metropolitan Deputy
Licensing Authority of a B licence for four articulated vehicles.
Mr. G. Mercer, for the B.T.C,
maintamed that the grant was against the weight of evidence. The company, he said, had not proved that there was an unsatisfied demand for extra vehicles. ' The grant would create wasteful competition with existing facilities.
The company, who were in the coal business, already had a B licence for 19 vehicles and 16 trailers. They also had 11 vehicles and four trailers on a C licence -and a number of contract-Alicence vehicles.
Mr. McDonnell said that the turnover of the B-licence vehicles had substantially increased between 1952 and 1955, and this had entailed the concentration of coal work upon the C-licence vehicles.
The Tribunal limited the grant to three articulated vehicles. Mr. Hubert Hull, president, stated: The Licensing Authority has over-rated the reasonable extra requirement of the applicant."
B.M.M.O. TAKE OVER SERVICES THE Leicester-Loughborough services L of Allen's Motor Services, Mountsorrel, and Kemp and Shaw, Ltd., Leicester, have been taken over by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd. The LeicesterDerby service of Kemp and Shaw, Ltd., has also been purchased.
B.M.M.O. have acquired the entire share capital of Kemp and Shaw, Ltd., but only the stage-carriage licences of Allen's. Allen's are to continue their daily tours from Leicester, Loughborough and Birstall, and their daily service between Loughborough, Leicester and Skegness.
The late Mr, C. H. Allen, who died in February, founded the business in 1919. He acquired half the share capital of Kemp and Shaw, Ltd., in 1928, and later the whole.
PIRELLI TO SPEND Elm.
QVER Lim. will be spent by Pirelli, Ltd., during the next three years on doubling the size of the Burton-onTrent factory and modernizing it. It will then cover 32 acres.