Appeal blow over fine and back tax • Robert Blenkinsop
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has lost his appeal against a £600 fine for using a vehicle without an 0-licence and against an order for £2,560 back duty because the vehicle was untaxed.
Blenkinsop, of Merton, Co Durham, had appealed to Teesside Crown Court after the penalties were imposed when Peterlee magistrates convicted him in his absence.
The court was told that an Iveco Ford carrying about five tonnes of coal driven by one of Blenkinsop's employees had been stopped in a check last September. The maximum fine for using a vehicle without an 0licence was £2,500 at the time. When interviewed, Blenkinsop admitted that he had been using the vehicle for two years. The back duty had been calculated on that basis.
Blenkinsop said that he was a coal merchant and the vehicle was an auto-bagger which had been used solely on site.
Most of the coal was delivered by small vehicles but on that day another vehicle had broken down and he had used the larger vehicle to meet the needs of his customers. He had tried to tax it that day but the tax office at Gosforth was closed when he arrived.
He had not realised he needed an Operator's Licence, believing that one was necessary only when other people's goods were carried. The fine and back duty would cripple his business.
Asked why he had not attended the magistrates' court hearing, Blenkinsop said he had been out of the country For Blenkinsop, it was said that he had made an ill-considered judgment while in a state of panic.
Dismissing the appeal, Judge Maurice Carr said that, under the 1994 Vehicles Excise & Registration Act, the courts had no longer any discretion over the calculation of back duty and the order must stand.
Upholding the fine, Judge Carr said Blenkinsop was well versed in the running of commercial vehicles.
Blenkinsop was also ordered to pay £150 appeal costs.