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Decision deferred in 'battle of the roses'
Page 33
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• An alarming fall-off in the number of coach tour bookings both in Britain and for the Continent was referred to at a two-day hearing in Manchester before the North West Traffic Commissioners when Wallace Arnold Tours Ltd, of Leeds, made applications for a variation of conditions of five existing licences and sought permission to introduce one new excursion and tours service plus two new express carriage services for its UK and Continental excursions and tours network using the new M62 motorlink (CM June 30).
Both Sir Frank Marshall, solicitor, representing Wallace Arnold and Mr F. D. Walker, representing the objecting coach tour companies operating express services and tours mainly from Lancashire, referred to the decline in British and Continental tours bookings this year over previous years. Mr Walker put the slide down to economic reasons of which inflation and unemployment were more to blame than the weather.
The variations applied for by Wallace Arnold included an excursion and tour licence for Liverpool (Canning Street); Clitheroe Railway Station; Colne, Preston bus station and excursions and tours starting from Leeds. The new services applied for were express carriages between Manchester and Leeds and new excursions and tours starting from Preston. The objective of the application, said Sir Frank, was to offer a better feeder service for Wallace Arnold Tours from Lancashire and Yorkshire utilizing the motorway.
Each of the eight applications received 13 objections. Immediately on conclusion of the hearing the chairman of the Commissioners, Mr C. R. Hodgson, announced that they would defer their decision on the applications to a later date.
For the objectors, Mr Walker said that if the applications were granted they would represent a menace to his clients whereas there was no serious threat to Wallace Arnold Ltd from the Lancashire operators.
The loss of even one or two passengers -which many of his clients could suffer if the applications were granted — could make the difference between an economic or an uneconomic operation. On the UK and Continental tours his clients had ample space available. If Wallace Arnold obtained the applications it would expose Lancashire operators who looked upon the county as their territory as Wallace Arnold did Yorkshire, to a dangerous form of competition which had not existed before.
Mr J. M. Barr, deputising for Sir Frank Marshall on the second day of the hearing, described any threat to Lancashire coach tour operators and express services as nonsense. The applications were merely a rearrangement of present embarkation arrangements. Of the Continental tours offered by the objectors, he said there was only a limited choice — some 10 or so by one group and these often duplicated countries.