Felixstowe wins appeal
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IN ONE of his last decisions as Transport Secretary, Tom King has refused an appeal by Suffolk County Council, Ipswich Transport and Eastern Counties against an Eastern Area Traffic Commissioners decision to grant a road service licence to Felixstowe Omnibuses.
The inspector recommended that the appeal should be allowed.
The independent operator had applied for a licence to run a service from the village of Barham to the seafront in Felixstowe via Ipswich and Felixstowe town centres. The proposed service competes in parts with services run by Eastern Counties and Ipswich Borough Transport.
In their decision, the Commissioners said that unless they were satisfied that on the balance of probabilities it would be against the interests of the public, they must grant the licence as applied for.
The inspectors felt after hearing the appeal that the appellants had succeeded in establishing "a balance of probability" that the service would be likely to be against the public interest.
Mr King felt the inspector, R. F. Darling, had not taken sufficient account of the Commissioners' decision or the purpose of their conditions on the licence.
He felt that its restricted period of operation allowed an opportunity for determining where the balance of the public interest lay.