Abandoned recovery risk
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RECOVERY vehicle operators who rescue abandoned vehicles from the roadside will not after all be breaking the terms of their licence, after MPs approved a change to the Finance Bill.
A recent High Court judgment involving a lorry carrying seven vehicles for scrap concluded that a trade licence did not extend to dealing with scrap vehicles.
Treasury Economic Secretary Ian Stewart said it was reasonable for a lorry carrying goods to pay for a full licence, but in practice the Court ruling made it impossible for operators of the usual type of recovery vehicles to use them under a trade licence.
They would be unable to remove from the roadside an abandoned vehicle which was to be scrapped.
The original proposal in the Finance Bill would have meant that an operator was liable to prosecution if he had taken his licence out before it became law — generally by the end of July — until the licence was renewed.
Mr Stewart said the Government wanted to ensure that all operators were protected from the date of Royal assent.