Allison's Refused 10 "A" Lorries : Wish to End C-hiring
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A FTER a hearing lasting 18 hours spread over three days, and listening to " the submissions of 14 objectors-, Mr. Alex Robertson, Scottish Deputy Licensing Authority, last Friday refused the application by Allison's Transport (Contracts), Ltd., Dundee, for an A licence for 10 vehicles.
Objectors included the railways, British Road Services, and the Alexander, Barrack, Munro, John Rhind and Road Services (Forth) haulage companies.
Mr. Robertson agreed to a request by Mr. J. M. Cowan, for the State-owned undertakings and two other objectors, that any person who had to give evidence should be excluded from the court while others did so. Mr. W. D. Connachie, for the applicants, then objected to the district commercial manager of the railways and the local manager of B.R.S. remaining in court.
He said that the company 'ished to do away with C-hiring operations to eliminate excessive sub-contracting. His first witness was Mr. Eric Sheriff, director of a concern of agricultural and potato merchants of Hatfield, Herts.
Drivers Hired from Agency
This concern bought seed potatoes in Angus and Perth and had employed Allison's for a number of years to bring them south, using either A or special-Alicence vehicles, or C-hire vehicles if the others were not available. Allison'S had authority to use Sheriff's C discs. Vehicles were hired from Allison's and the drivers ft-Wu the BalfieId Labour Agency.
• Allison's, who contracted to carry the potatoes, hired the drivers on behalf of the merchants. Mr. Sheriff said that about 10 C discs had been made available to Allison's. Discs were kept by drivers when the loads were delivered.
He told Mr. J. Angus, for four objectors, that he had no doubt about the legality of the system, although his chairman considered it illegal.
Mr. Sheriff thought that the agency was a legitimate company, but stated that he did not know where its registered offices were.
Eight Hours in the "Box" Mr. James Allison, joint managing director of the applicants, gave evidence for almost eight hours. He told Mr. Angus that the agency was a separate legal entity, but that its administrative work was done at Allison's office.
The sole directors of the Agency were said to be the wives of the co-directors of the applicant company.
Asked whether the idea for the Agency was conceived by himself and his codirector, to get over an apparent legal difficulty on C-hiring, Mr. Allison said that, to put it bluntly, it was a way round the law, but there was nothing illegal if the law could be evaded in a legal fashion.
Mr. Allison said his customers had become alarmed in recent months over C-hiring because of visits by traffic examiners accompanied by policemen. They had been asked questions about their C-hiring operations, and invoices had been taken away without any warrant. The customers had been pressing him to try to get rid of this inquisition to which they alleged they had been put.
Mr. Robertson said it seemed that the customers had "got the wind up." He thought the complaint about his officials coming along with policemen was an exaggeration. Where there was a suspicion of excessive hours, irregular running and C hiring, it was not unusual for a police officer and one of his officials to go along to examine records.
Cross-examined by Mr. Cowan, Mr. Allison agreed that in the decision of the Transport Tribunal in 1955, there were suspicions about the legality of the operation of his C-margin hiring, and that the Agency was not a legal company. But the persons who gave that decision were not, in his estimation, competent people to judge.
The authorities had had three years in which to confirm their suspicions, but had not taken the opportunity of doing. so. Three years was a long time for people to be. committing offences every day if it was illegal.
NEW BY-PASS STARTED
WORK on the new Maidstone by-pass, designed to relieve congestion on the London-Folkestone trunk road, was inaugurated on Monday by Mr. Richard Nugent, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport. The road will eventually be seven miles long, with twin 24-ft. carriageways.
Thirteen major bridges are included in the project, eight of them in the first section, which should be completed by March, 1960. There will also be a number of fly-over junctions to cut out sideroad connections.
• " 30 " NO HELP TO REMOVERS
THE general experience throughout our industry is that the raising of the speed limit for heavy goods vehicles [to 30 m.p.h.] has had little or no effect upon the journey times of the small number of vehicles affected," says the annual report of the National Association of Furniture Warehousemen and Removers.
It states also that reports of alleged illegal use of C-licence vehicles have continued to be received, and the Licensing Authorities have been asked to investi gate them. .
COACH BUSINESS TAKEN OVER
THE 40-year-old -Rotherham coach business of W. Smart and Co., Ltd., was taken over on Monday by Mr. C. Riley, anotherlocal coach proprietor. The transfer was occasioned by the 'retirement of Mr. Reg Hopwood, a director of Srnart's. ,
4.8% More "C" Vehiclos In a Year
VEHICLES on C licences increased by 46,974 (4.8 per cent.) between MarCh, 1957, and March, 1958. All classes increased, with the exception of vehicles between If and 24 tons Unladen, where a reduction of-4,567 licences took place.
The corresponding rise in the number of C-licence operators was 21,312.
Detailed changes in the numbers of Clicence vehicles and operators are given in the following table: £327,478 LOSS FOR PERKINS
FOR the first time for more than 20 years, F. Perkins, Ltd., incurred a loss. last year. Turnover declined by rim. to about £14m. and, although overheads were reduced, a group loss, before tax, of £327,478 could not be averted. No dividend is to be paid. The business is again now operating at a profit.
Reasons for the loss are given as the increasing production of oil 'engines by vehicle manufacturers, unavoidable delay in beginning the delivery of large contracts, the Suez incident and the closure of the company's most important eastern market because of restrictions on finance.
N.C.B. PLAN TO USE HAULIERS DEPLORED
ARESOLUTION deploring the National Coal Board's decision to allow private hauliers to deliver miners' concessionary coal in Derbyshire has been passed by the Derbyshire Area Council of the National Union of Mineworkers. N.U.M. officials are to meet the N.C.B. to try to get the policy reversed.
The Board say they decided on the change when Derbyshire County Council agreed to ban tipping on the highway after June 30. As this meant the coal would have to be delivered in bags, freeenterprise hauliers were approached, because it would be uneconomic for the N.C.B. to undertake this work.
BEDFORDS BACK IN INDIA
BED-FORD commercial vehicles will shortly be available in India again. They have not been freely obtainable since restrictions were imposed by the Indian Government in 1953. Now, Hindustan Motors, Ltd., are to assemble Bedford trucks in Calcutta under an agreement with General Motors.
An initial licence for the importation of 600 vehicles has been granted, and they will be .shipped, completely knocked down. from England by Slily.