C-licensed Lorry Used for Reward
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AN Aberdeen contractor was fined a total of £85 and disqualified from driving for one year, at Perth Sheriff Court, last week, when he admitted three charges of using his C-licensed lorry for hire or reward.
The accused, Alexander Smith Rayne, 125 Craigievar Crescent, Aberdeen, jobbing contractor, admitted that on 11 • occasions between January 18-April 1, he used a lorry for hire or reward. He also admitted to using an A licence issued to F. L. Pettman, Ltd., 233 Brixton Road, London, on his own lorry. Rayne also pleaded guilty to using the lorry while it was not covered by third-party insurance.
Mr. T. F. Aitchison, depute-fiscal, prosecuting, said t:iat when Rayne's lorry was stopped in Perth it was loaded with rolls of jute being transported to England at normal haulage rates. An A identity disc was displayed on the lorry, and subsequent inquiries revealed that Rayne was the holder only of a C licence.
The lorry had been used in a similar way on II occasions, said Mr. Aitchison. It had made trips from Dundee to London, Birmingham, Coventry, Essex, Cambridge, Peterborough, Norwich, Nottingham, Leicester and Enfield. It had also travelled from Welwyn Garden City to Dundee, and from Stamford to Strathaven, Lanarkshire. Rayne had been paid almost £300 for these illegal trips.
The A identity disc had 6een issued in respect of another vehicle, and his insurance policy was not effective when he carried goods for hire or reward, added Mr. Aitchison.
In a letter admitting the offences, Rayne stated that there was a shortage of work in Aberdeen, and, as he had .a wife and four children to keep, he had to do something. Since he had been charged, his lorry had been off the road. It had now been reclaimed by the hire purchase company. Rayne added that he had finished up approximately £300 in debt and was now trying to clear this amount by weekly payments.
Sheriff Substitute A. M. Prain imposed a fine of £50 or three months' imprisonment on the first charge; £30 or 60 days on the second and £5 or 20 days, with one year's disqualification from driving, on the third charge. He allowed Rayne six weeks to pay the lines and directed that the alternative sentences should run concurrently.