Road Traffic Act 1960

174 Decision of licensing authority on application for carrier's licence

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, the licensing authority, on an application for an A licence or for a B licence, shall have full power in his discretion—

(a) to grant the application, or

(b) to grant a licence in respect of motor vehicles other than those of which particulars were contained in the application, or in respect of motor vehicles or trailers less in number than, or differing in type from, those for the use of which authorisation was applied for, or

(c) to refuse the application.

(2) If, on an application for an A licence, the applicant satisfies the licensing authority that any of the authorised vehicles will be used exclusively for the purposes of a contract entered into by the applicant with a person carrying on a trade or business (not being the business of carrying or arranging for the carrying of goods) for the carriage of goods for or in connection with that trade or business during any continuous period of not less than one year, the following provisions shall have effect:—

(a) the licensing authority shall be obliged to grant the application so far as regards those vehicles (unless he is satisfied that, having regard to the previous conduct of the applicant in the capacity of a carrier of goods, he is not a fit person to receive a carrier's licence, in which case the licensing authority shall refuse the application); but

(b) if the application is granted, the licensing authority shall attach to the licence conditions for securing that those vehicles shall be used exclusively for the purposes of the contract and shall at the termination of the contract cease to be authorised vehicles unless the licensing authority, on an application made to him with respect thereto, otherwise directs.

(3) The licensing authority shall be obliged to grant an application for a C licence unless—

(a) the applicant is the holder of a carrier's licence which is suspended or has been curtailed, or

(b) a carrier's licence previously held by the applicant has been revoked or curtailed,

in either of which cases the licensing authority shall have full power in his discretion either to grant or to refuse the application.

(4) The licensing authority, in exercising his discretion under this section, shall have regard to the interests of the public generally, including primarily those of persons requiring facilities for transport, and secondarily those of persons providing facilities for transport, and, in particular, shall have regard in the case of an application for an A licence or for a B licence—

(a) where the applicant is the holder of an existing licence of the same class, to the extent to which he is authorised to use goods vehicles thereunder for the carriage of goods for hire or reward;

(b) to the previous conduct of the applicant in the capacity of a carrier of goods;

(c) to the number and type of vehicles proposed to be used under the licence ;

(d) in determining the number of vehicles to be authorised, to the need for providing for occasions when vehicles are withdrawn from service for overhaul or repair;

(e) to the extent to which the vehicles to be authorised will be in substitution for horse-drawn vehicles previously used by the applicant for the purposes of his business as a carrier:

(f) to the extent to which the vehicles to be authorised will further the provision of services under which goods will be carried partly by road and partly by railway or inland waterway without the need for unloading and reloading,

and, in the case of an application for a B licence, also to the extent to which the applicant intends that the vehicles proposed to be used under the licence shall be used for the carriage of goods for hire or reward.

Where goods are contained in a receptacle which is an additional body for a goods vehicle and is constructed or adapted for the purpose of being taken on to or off the vehicle with goods contained therein, the transfer of the receptacle with goods contained therein on to or off a goods vehicle, railway wagon or vessel shall not be treated for the purposes of paragraph (f) of this subsection as an unloading or reloading of those goods.

(5) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that the matters to which the licensing authority is to have regard in exercising his discretion under this section do not include the duty imposed upon the British Transport Commission by paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section three of the Transport Act, 1947 (which requires the Commission to provide, in such places and to such extent as may appear to them to be expedient, certain transport services).

(6) In a case in which the licensing authority refuses to grant a carrier's licence, or grants a carrier's licence which differs from the licence applied for, or imposes conditions to which the applicant does not agree, the licensing authority shall, if so requested by the applicant, state in writing the reasons for his decision.

(7) Where, under paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, the licensing authority proposes to grant an application for an A licence or for a B licence in respect of vehicles other than those of which particulars were contained in the application, then (unless the licensing authority is satisfied 'that the variation subject to which he proposes to grant the application will not materially increase the total carrying capacity of the authorised vehicles) he shall publish notice of his proposal as if it were an application to which the last foregoing section applies, and thereupon subsections (3) to (6) of that section shall apply accordingly.