Lancashire Cotton-haulage Rates in the Limelight
Page 31
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
AN interesting comment on -.cottonhaulage rates 'comes from a Liverpool haulier, one el the many who, since an award by the Regional Traffic Commissioner, Sir William Chamberlain, .a year ago, has been asked to make certain refunds of alleged overcharges.
This award followed an inquiry by the Commissioner, to 'whomapplication had been made by certain cotton-spinning firms for a decision, under the Road Haulage and Hire (Charges) Order, 1942, on the road-transport rates for cotton carried from Liverpool and Manchester docks to Oldham, Royton and Bury. It caused much concern in haulage circles for a long time and, even now, the position has not been completely cleared up.
Some carriers received claims for refunds from the Riad Haulage Branch of the M.O.W.T. on the ground that they bad charged more than the rates specified in the award, but they refused to entertain them, because they contended, and still contend, that the
Commissioner's decision did not establish a general rate for raw-cotton loads between the places mentioned. The letters of claim were subsequently withdrawn. The award, they .held, was limited to the loads and journeys
covered by the inquiry. •
One Liverpool cotton carrier states :—" The permitted increase of fl per cent, on the 1940 rates applied. only to the specific cases submitted to the. Commissioner for inquiry, which did not cover the general field of cotton-haulage rates, " I am satisfied that the award, from which there have been such widespread reverberations, has been misinterpreted. No general, principle has. been established. Hirers are, free to object to a rate and to appeal to the Commissioner for a decision, but, so far, the position is that each case is dealt with on its
own merits. , " The'1942 award has not the value of a ruling of general apptication. It was a decision on specific individual loads and journeys."