Transport (Disposal of Road Haulage Property) Act 1956
Transport (Disposal of Road Haulage Property) Act , 1956
(4 & 5 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 56
An Act to amend the provisions of the Transport Act, 1953, relating to the disposal by the British Transport Commission of the property held by them for the purposes of the existing road haulage undertaking (including the provisions as to the transport levy and the Transport Fund), to extend certain enactments relating to holding companies to the British Transport Commission, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Disposal of property to companies remaining under Commission's control.
1. For subsection (1) of section four of the Transport Act, 1953 (which relates to transfers of property to companies under the control of the Commission, otherwise than with a view to the sale of their shares) there shall be substituted the following subsection:—
(1) Subject to the provisions of this subsection, the Commission may make over to any company under their direct or indirect control any property held by them for the purposes of the existing road haulage undertaking and any of their rights and obligations, whether under contract or otherwise, being rights and obligations connected with the property transferred, and in that event subsections (4) and (5) of the last preceding section, section six of this Act, and the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect as if the transaction had been a purchase resulting from an invitation under the last preceding section to tender for the purchase of that property on conditions providing for the purchaser taking over the connected rights and obligations, as if all such things had been done as would have fallen to be done if the transaction had been such a purchase and as if any vehicles specified by the Commission to the company as additional vehicles at the time when they are made over had been so specified under the said subsection (5), and, without prejudice to the generality of the preceding provisions of this subsection, references in the said provisions of this Act to transport units, to purchasers of transport units and to additional vehicles shall be construed accordingly:
Provided that—
(a ) property other than vehicles shall only be made over under this subsection to a company to which vehicles are made over thereunder;
(b ) the total number and the total weight unladen of the vehicles made over to companies under this subsection which belong to each of the three following categories, that is to say—
(i) vehicles (whether motor vehicles or trailers) specially constructed to carry abnormal indivisible loads;
(ii) motor vehicles (of whatever character) which in the opinion of the Minister ought to be regarded as special vehicles constructed for special purposes other than the carriage of abnormal indivisible loads; and
(iii) other motor vehicles,
shall not exceed, in the case of the first category, three hundred and twenty-five vehicles and two thousand seven hundred and fifty tons, in the case of the second category nine hundred and eighty-nine vehicles and three thousand three hundred and thirty tons, and in the case of the third category seven thousand seven hundred and fifty vehicles and thirty-six thousand tons, and, of the vehicles so made over which belong to the third category, not less than three-fortieths, in number, shall be specified as additional vehicles;
(c ) the total number of trailers to which special A licences extend by virtue of this subsection, excluding trailers belonging to the first of the said categories, shall not exceed three thousand two hundred trailers;
(d ) the property made over under this subsection to any company, other than vehicles belonging to the said categories, shall be only such property as may be specified in proposals submitted by the Commission to the Board and approved, as being appropriate in quantity, nature and (in the case of land) location, by the Minister after considering the recommendations of the Board.’
2 Disposal of property through companies the securities of which are sold.
(1) Section five of the Transport Act, 1953 (which relates to transfers of property to companies under the control of the Commission with a view to the sale of their shares) shall be amended as follows, that is to say—
(a ) for the references in that section to the shares of the company there shall, subject to the provisions of paragraph (e ) of this subsection, be substituted references to all the securities of the company;
(b ) the said securities may be sold otherwise than in one parcel and tenders may be invited for the purchase thereof and offers made for the sale thereof otherwise than in one parcel;
(c ) proviso (b ) to subsection (3) of that section (which confers a limited power to sell otherwise than by tender) shall cease to have effect, and securities may be sold under that subsection otherwise than by tender in any case where the Board approves or, on a reference of the matter to the Minister under subsection (6) of that section, the Minister directs;
(d ) the Commission may, in connection with any offer to the public of any of the said securities, pay commissions to persons who procure or undertake to procure persons to purchase all or any of the securities or who agree themselves to purchase all or any of the securities not otherwise sold as the result of the offer;
(e ) for the references (however worded) in subsections (7) to (12) of that section to the date of the transfer of the shares of the company in pursuance of a sale under that section there shall be substituted references to the date on which the company ceases to be under the direct or indirect control of the Commission.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (3) of the said section five, the Commission may, with a view to obtaining a better price for all or any of the securities of any company to which property has been made over under that section, defer inviting tenders for the purchase of, or offering for sale, or selling, all or any of those securities:
Provided that the power conferred by this subsection shall not be exercised except with the consent of the Minister, and the Minister may at any time revoke his consent as respects all or any of the securities in question, and the Commission shall thereupon proceed as soon as is reasonably practicable to sell those securities in accordance with the said subsection (3) as modified by subsection (1) of this section.
The Commission shall include in their annual report under subsection (7) of section four of the Transport Act, 1947, particulars of any exercise by the Minister of his powers under the proviso to this subsection which takes place during the year.
(3) The provisions of the Schedule to this Act shall have effect for the purpose of facilitating the reorganisation of the capital of companies to which property has been made over under the said section five.
(4) As respects any vehicles which, immediately before the expiration of the five year period mentioned in Part II of the First Schedule to the Transport Act, 1953, are—
(a ) owned by a company to which vehicles have been transferred under the said section five; and
(b ) authorised to be used under a licence granted to the Commission under the said Part II,
the said licence shall be deemed to have been granted for a period expiring with the end of the said five year period or with the date when the company ceases to be under the direct or indirect control of the Commission, whichever last occurs:
Provided that if, after the expiration of the said five year period and before the company ceases to be under the direct or indirect control of the Commission, any of the vehicles authorised to be used under the licence are disposed of by the company to the Commission, the licence shall thereupon cease to have effect with respect to those vehicles.
(5) Subsection (2) of section four of the Transport Act, 1953 (which requires information as to the principal activities of certain companies to be included in the annual statements of the Commission under section ninety-four of the Transport Act, 1947), shall apply in relation to companies to which the Commission has made over property under section five of the Transport Act, 1953, as it applies in relation to the companies referred to in the said subsection (2).
(6) In subsection (2) of the said section five (which relates to the price at which property is to be made over under that section) the words from ‘and the references to values shown in the books of the Commission’ to the end of the subsection (being words which relate to certain adjustments to be made by the Commission in the values shown in their books) are hereby repealed.
(7) Paragraphs (e ) and (f ) of subsection (4) of section two of the Transport Act, 1947 (which restrict the power of the Commission to trade in spare parts for, or accessories to, road vehicles, or in petrol or oil for road vehicles, or to engage in the maintenance or repair of road vehicles), shall not apply to dealings of the Commission with any company to which property has been made over under section five of the Transport Act, 1953, being dealings which take place not later than twelve months after the company has ceased to be under the direct or indirect control of the Commission.
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