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Unauthorized Base Change: Two Vehicles Suspended
Page 52
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Punishment by Mr. James for Ignoring Official Warning: "No Reasonable Excuse"
BECAUSE Oswald Transport, Ltd., Trabboch, Mauchline, Ayrshire, ignored an official warning and transferred four vehicles from a base at Wolverhampton to Talke, Staffs, without permission, Mr. W. P. James, West Midland Licensing Authority, has suspended two of the vehicles for the month of February.
In a reserved decision he says: "The company have no reasonable excuse for their failure to apply for a new licence as advised by my office in the letter of October 10, 1957. Not only did they fail to respond to the advice given, but on several occasions subsequent to that date applications were made on the prescribed forms G.V.6 for a variation or variations to their licence, containing false declarations to the effect that the vehicles were based (or to be based) at Old Hall Street, Wolverhampton. This represents not only a lack of responsibility on the part of the operators, who are in a substantial way of. business; it must also be accepted that these statements were made on the basis of an attempt to mislead the Licensing Authority."
This action has been taken after Mr. James held sittings last September and October to inquire into irregularities by the company. He also heard an application for a new A licence for six vehicles (35 tons), including three articulated units and three trailers, to be operated from Talke. The company offered to surrender special A licences for four vehicles and one trailer, and an ordinary A licence for two vehicles and two trailers, which was granted in the North Western Area in respect of a base at Wigan.
The normal user was "mainly steel, building materials and requisites, moulding sand, electrical equipment, forgings, castings and machinery, Midlands, Lancashire, Cheshire, North Wales, Scotland and South Wales."
Transferred Despite Warning In September, 1957, the company told the Licensing Authority that they contemplated transferring the vehicles from Wolverhampton to Talke. On October 10, 1957, the Licensing Authority's office replied that, in that event, an application should be made for a new licence. The company took no action, but transferred the vehicles that month and used them from Talke after that date.
Mr. W. A. McClelland, managing director, said in explanation that he thought the matter was not urgent. The change of base had not, he said, caused an excess of transport in the Potteries, because the company had selected Talke purely for its operational facilities and they did not intend to seek new traffic originating in the Potteries. His attention was, however, drawn to a circular letter dated May 6. 1958, issued by the company from Talke and soliciting traffic from customers in the Potteries.
Among the objectors, Mr. G. H. P. flames. for British Railways and British Road Services, opposed the grant of a licence with a base at Talke. He used the arguments employed in the Bradbury appeal (The Commercial Motor, Decem
06 ber 4, 1959), saying that the words "permanent base or centre" used in Section 5(3) of the 1933 Act must relate to the base of operation, centre of activities and the place from and to which vehicles returned for the purpose of carrying goods for hire or reward.
Action in North-west?
Mr. James says that the North Western Licensing Authority is considering the question of action under Section 9(4) of the 1953 Act in respect of the two vehicles based at Wigan. In those circumstances he has deferred decision on that part of the application lodged in the West Midland Area.
In the Transport Tribunal's decision in the Bradbury appeal, Mr. Beames' interpretation of the words "permanent base or centre" was not upheld. Following the Tribunal's ruling in this case, Mr. James has found that there was a prima facie case for the grant of four vehicles with a base at Talke. These vehicles, formerly based in Wolverhampton, were 'being used to their full capacity and to carry longestablished traffic. There had been little abstraction of traffic from Potteries' operators.
LOOSE-LOAD LAW?
LEGISLATION should be introduced to prohibit the carriage of loose loads at heights greater than the side boards of lorries. This call is made in a resolution by Chesterfield Road Safety Committee which will be placed before the North Midland Accident Prevention Federation in Nottingham this month.
Spillage from lorries and other vehicles is an inherent danger, not only to other road users but also to pedestrians who might be struck by falling materials, say the committee.
R.H.A. CONFERENCE DATE nCTOBER 10-12 has been fixed as the
date of the Road Haulage Association's annual conference, to be held this year at Blackpool.