Second chance
Page 8
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A SOUTH WALES company that lost its standard operator's licence was given a second chance to continue in business after the company told the Transport Tribunal that its case had been unfairly treated by South Wales and West Midlands Licensing Authority Ronald Jackson.
The Tribunal referred the case back to the LA and gave the company an interim licence to continue trading until the hearing.
L & P Traffic Services, a corn-. pany dealing in the transport of aggregates, applied for a licence for 10 vehicles. It ran a fleet of eight vehicles and contemplated adding a further two at a later date.
The company was formed after Howell and Llewellyn, a company run by the same directors, went through financial troubles.
Two creditors of Howell and Llewellyn tried to force the company into liquidation, so the directors took the best parts of the company and transferred them to L & P.
The creditors lodged complaints to the LA over the formation of the new company and the directors were called before the LA on April 5 this year.
Geoffrey Jones, solicitor for L & P, alleged that the LA had approached the case from the wrong angle and had spent too much time listening to representations from members of the general public, a practice which is not permitted.
Only the transport trade groups, chief officers of police or local authorities can object to companies holding a licence, Mr Jones said. The LA may regulate the procedure of the inquiry, he said, but regulation of the procedure did not extend to finding some "backdoor method" to find objections, he said.
The LA's procedure put the objectors in a more favourable position than L & P, he said.