Mixed results for hgv appeals
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• Mr J. R. Bell, a heavy goods vehicle dealer, of Ashington, Northumberland, was unsuccessful when he appealed to the Northern LA, Mr J. A. T. Hanlon, in Newcastle on Tuesday, against a decision to refuse his hgv licence application.
Mr Bell had been refused his application on the grounds that between February 1969 and February 1970 he had been employed as a hgv driver only for a total of five months, one month short of the period required before a driver becomes eligible for the licence.
In his appeal to the LA, Mr Bell said that he had not driven an hgv for the necessary period as he had been on a Government training course for six of the 12 months starting February 1969.
He added that his first driving test—several years ago—had been taken in an articulated vehicle and the goods vehicle licence was the only licence he held.
Mr Hanlon, refusing the application, said it was a great pity Mr Bell had not managed to drive a heavy goods vehicle for the extra month. A second appellant, Mr E. Worley, aged 22, of Sunderland, was more successful when the LA upheld his appeal against a decision to refuse him an hgv licence after it had been discovered that although he had been driving a heavy goods vehicle his existing licence authorized him to drive only a vehicle under 3.5 tons. Mr Worley explained that when he had taken his driving test at the age of 17 be had asked the instructor if he would be able to drive any type of vehicle when he was 21 years' old, and the instructor had replied that he could but failed to mention that be would need the appropriate licence for the type of vehicle he intended to drive.