"Air of Suspicion" About Deals
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ROOK transactions, which made C-licence operators the temporary owners of goods carried on their vehicles, were irregular and could undermine the whole licensing system, Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, Northern Licensing Authority, declared last week. He as hearing an application by Mr. H. Birrell, Longtown, who wanted to put two of his nine tippers on B licence. Six of them were on C licence, and the others were stated to be unlicensed.
Mr. Birrell said he carried a large quantity of bricks, sometimes 50,000 a month. They were booked to him and he paid for them, but he charged only for haulage. and made no profit from the brick company.
Mr. Hanlon pointed out that there was an air of suspicion about transactions of that sort. There had beer. a prosecution at Kendal, where an auctioneer had knocked down cattle to a dealer. which were paid for by a haulier. . He. carried them into Yorkshire on a C-licence vehicle, but the court decided it was a subterfuge, and the operator was heavily fined.
It was doubtful whether Mr. Birrell could be classed as a brick dealer. because paying the bill for someone else did not make him one. Mr. C. North, for the applicant, said he was a sand and gravel merchant, and was continually being asked to carry to and from sites for small builders and merchants when his C vehicles were running empty. • B-licence vehicles had been hired, but could not cope with all the work. Eight witnesses supported the application.
Mr. H. Lightfoot, for the objectors. Robert Liddle, Ltd., Carlisle, said they had two A-licence and 25, B-licence vehicles engaged on the class of work which the applicant was asking to do. Their fleet was not fully employed, and it was expected that work this year would not be more than 78 per cent, of last season's peak. Two more vehicles in this field could cause serious abstraction, particularly as they would obtain work from Liddle's existing customers'.
Mr; North submitted that the objectors had had 19 tippers added to their licences in just over a year, so they could hardly claim that there was no need for additional vehicles.
In a reserved decision, Mr. Hanlon agreed that there was some evideoce of need in the Longtown area, and granted one vehicle with conditions, "road and building materials within 20 miles of Lon gtown."