Nominal Month's Suspension for Overweight Operation
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A NOMINAL penalty of a month's ..t-t suspension was imposed on J. W. Capstaff, Ltd., Newcastle upon Tyne, in respect of a vehicle which had been operated for two years at 2 tons over the authorized weight when Mr. J. A. T. Hanlon, Northern Licensing Authority, called the company before him, at Newcastle last week.
It was explained that in July, 1956, the company had applied for a special-A licence to be assigned to them from Messrs. J. W. and H. Armstrong, Ponteland, Newcastle. They gave the vehicle's unladen weight as 4 tons 19 cwt. 80 lb., the same weight as shown on Armstrong's application made in June, 1956.
Two years later, Capstaff applied for a variation of their A licence by the addition of a vehicle of 61tons unladen. subject to the surrender of the vehicle's special-A licence. The application was granted in October, 1958, but for a different vehicle, which weighed 6 tons 6. cwt. 14 lb.
From documents held by the Taxation Officer of Northumberland County Council, it was discovered that only three days after the original vehicle was specified on the special-A licence, in 1956, the vehicle had been weighed in Newcastle by a Mr. Waters of K. and B, Motors, Ltd. "
The weight was shown' as 6 tons 19 cwt. 3 qr.—an increase of some 2' tons. The• next day Mr. Waters declared the unladen weight of the vehicle at 6 tons 18 cwt., and the registration book was amended and additional duty paid.
Subsequently, on January i and December 20, 1957, the weight of the vehicle was declared to be 6 tons 18 cwt. by the secretary of Capstaff. In July, 1958, whilst the vehicle was still specified as 4 tons 19 cwt., it was weighed at another weighbridge in the city and found to be 7 tons 3 cwt.
Giving evidence, Mr. R. N. Johnston, secretary of Capstaff, explained that his company had been approached by K. and B. Motors with a view to purchasing a Guy eight-wheeler with a special-A licence. They purchased the vehicle for 15,490.
At that time it had been the normal practice to sign blank application forms.
This was done and he sent them to the Road Haulage AssociationIt was not until he had seen the publicatiorr in Applications and Decisions that he realized the weight was given as 4 tons 19 cwt.
Everybody was perturbed about the discovery and his company had contacted K. and B. Motors, said Mr. Johnston. They had been assured that Mr. Waters had looked into the matter and, provided the proper Excise tax was paid for the extra weight, everything was in order.
Giving his decision, Mr. Hanlon said that even when people had acted in complete innocence, it was right to take some steps in the matter. He thought that a comparatively nominal suspension should be made.