No Need for Wider Choice of Tours
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A N attempt by Yeomans, Miller and Co. (Tours and Travel), Ltd., Cirencester, to increase the scope of their Continental and extended-tour operations in the West Berkshire area was unsuccessful at Reading, last week.
The South Eastern Traffic Commissioners refused to modify the company's backing to enable them to pick up in Hungerford and Newbury on all Continental tours, to re-route two home tours so that the towns would be served, and to operate a feeder service from Newbury to Swindon to enable passengers to join home tours starting there.
For the applicants, Mr. T. D. Corpe said they could already pick up in the two towns on four Continental tours through a licence originally granted to G. J. Miller and Sons, so the towns were within their catchment area. It was reasonable that people living there should he offered the wide variety of tours being operated.
At present, people in the towns had to travel to either Oxford or London to join
extended tours, and there was strong support from local authorities and from the public for Ihe application.
In evidence, Mr. Joseph Yeomans, a director, said Newbury was a rapidly increasing area, and it was time someone applied to cater for the. large volume of traffic available.
There were objections by Blue Cars Continental Coach Cruises, Ltd.. Glenton Tours, Ltd., Red Line Continental Motorways, Ltd., Thames Valley Traction Co., Ltd., and Reliance Motor Services (Newbury), Ltd. • Refusing the application, Mr. H. J. Thom, chairman, said: "The impression we get is that the applicants—and we are not condemning them for it—are not here to prosecute an application based • on spontaneous demand or ne'ed; they are here to exploit the acquisition of a licence granted to a Mr. Miller, who was granted four tours picking up in Newbury and Hungerford."
There had been no evidence of a real demand for variety in Continental tours from Newbury, and there did not seem any reason to modify the home extended tours on the evidence presented. However, if Mr. Yeomans could prove a demand for greater variety when his picking-up points in the towns had been used to a satisfactory extent, the Commissioners would be prepared to reconsider their decision.