B.R.S. Meat Group Granted Licence Variations : Objectors Withdraw A FTER objections from private operators had been withdrawn, B.R.S.
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(Meat Haulage), Ltd., were last week granted variations to licences covering 15 vehicles based at Manchester and Liverpool. A normal user of "general goods, mainly meat, Great Britain, mainly Lancashire," was allowed. '
Mr. A. W. Balne, for the British Transport Commission, said the first application was to add five vehicles totalling 29+ tons to their Liverpool licence. There would be no alteration in weight and it was proposed to surrender the public A licence held by B.R.S. Special Traffics Division. The second application was for four petrol vehicles on free A licence to be replaced by Oilers, with a slight increase in the 15+-ton weight.
Messrs. G. V. Senior and R. G. Edwards objected to the first application and Mr. W. T. Smith to both. Objections by M. E. Sansom, Ltd, Fairfield Haulage, Ltd., and W. T. Sutton, Ltd., had been withdrawn before the hearing.
Mr. Balne said that of the 15 vehicles involved in all the applications each one or its predecessor was in operation. Referring to normal user, he deplored the "warfare" between B.R.S. and private hauliers, which was establishing nothing.
Return Loads Vital The very nature of meat haulage, with its burden of overheads for expensive insulated vehicles, meant that return loads and spare time had to be made up with large quantities of general goods. The burden on the objectors in the two cases was substantially different.
In the case of the public A licence, the Transport Tribunal in the Knight appeal had said that if the Licensing Authority was satisfied that vehicles were regularly and fully occupied during the currency of the previous licence and there was no material change in their work, a renewal application should be granted unless a statutory objection was established.
He explained that B.R.S. (Meat Haulage) were the successors of Hays Wharf Cartage and other wholly owned railway subsidiaries, who had 96 vehicles at Liverpool and 23 at Manchester before 1947. After nationalization there were 120 vehicles on free A licence in the area.
These were offered for sale as part of the meat pool of 530 vehicles. 491 of which were afterwards made over to the new company, which now had only 62 vehiclesat Liverpool and 15 at Manchester. Their chief customers were United Carriers, Ltd., successors to Meat Transport Organization, Ltd., and there was little other work. All the vehicles objected to, except three, were chartered to United Carriers.
The words "general goods" were at present almost an anathema in traffic courts, but large numbers of operators could not carry meat exclusively, and the general carryings were so diverse that they could not be described otherwise. They would resist any attempt to impose a different normal user for separate vehicles, as with large fleets the older vehicles must be 'allowed to operate nearer home.
Mr. A. Birchwood, traffic manager of the company, said there was to be no increase in vehicles and no alteration in the work. At this, Mr. E. A. Whitehead, for the objectors, said that because of the. way the applications had been framed, they had thought vehicle increases were being sought. In view of the assurances given, the objections would be withdrawn.
DISPENSER RULES CHANGED
FORMER regulations concerning the checking of petrol and lubricatingoil dispensers by weights and measures inspectors have been revised by the Measuring Instruments (Liquid Fuel and Lubricating Oil) (Amendment) Regulations, 1958, which came into effect on Monday.
Previously, any test sample had to be returned to the tank from which it was withdrawn, but this requirement has been waived because it often caused inconvenience, for example, when a sample had to be poured back into an overhead tank. "100 Milesof New Roads are Not Enough" 'THE benefits of speedy travel on new 1 motorways and improved trunk roads will disappear if vehicles encounter serious traffic difficulties in town or urban areas. This was stated last week by Mr. Wallace E. Riche, chairman, at the ahnual meeting of the' Roads Improvement Association.
He said that the present road improvement programme would result in about 100 miles of new trunk roads during the next two or three years. This was less than 10 per cent, of the minimum necessary for the free and safe flow of traffic in normal times. Similar improvements would have to go forward at an increasing pace for several more years.
Mr. Riche pointed out that the major problem—and the most costly one—was reducing congestion in towns and urban areas. Although this entailed acquisition and demolition of property, the savings in transport costs quickly returned good dividends. • .TWIN-STEER DAIMLER-BENZ
TFIOUGHT to be the first example of a twin-steer six-wheeler to be pro.duced in Germany, a new vehicle manufactured by Daimler-Benz A.G. offers a comprehensive specification.
Suitable for a gross weight of 18 tons, the export model of this chassis is powered by the 0N326 six-cylindered oil engine producing 220 b.h.p. at 2,200 r.p.m. and 535 lb,-ft. torque at 1,300 r.p.m, Air pressure operates the six-Speed all-synchromesh gearbox and the brakes on all wheels. Limited power assistance is provided for steering the two front axles and an exhaust brake is a standard fitting.
With a maximum speed of 57.5 m.p.h. the vehicle would appear to be overpoweredwhen considered in relation to British models. However, the design allows for the truck to be used with trailers, the permissible gross train Weight then being 70,550 lb.
TRAFFIC "TOO SMELLY"
AN application by Mr. F. J. W. Sharpe. Burleigh Street, Hull, -to carry fish offal and manufactured fertilizers for the Crown Corn OA Cake Chemical Manure Co., Ltd., Hull, was granted last week by Maj. F. S. Eastwood, Yorkshire Licensing Authority. Mr. Sharpe produced a letter from the company claiming that because of the ," objectionable smell" other hauliers would mit deal in this traffic. A railway objection was withdrawn..
• CALL TO CUT PAPERWORK MEW methods of speeding the issue of I vehicle and driving licences are to be put to the Minister of Transport by the County Councils Association. They are to suggest a reduction in the number of different rates of vehicle licence duty, alterations in registration books and application forms, and the establishment of a national central registry for vehicle files. Another suggestion is that returns required by the Ministry should be simplified.