Driving instructor had no licence
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A fork-lift instructor who acted as an HGV driving instructor when he was not qualified to do so has been ordered to pay £550 in fines and costs.
When George Hartley, of Walsall Wood Road, Aldridge, appeared before Walsall magistrates he pleaded guilty to two offences of obtaining money by deception.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Beverley Bell said the offences came to light when traffic examiner Pat Earp was on duty at the Featherstone NOV Test Station last June.
She saw a 15,700kg vehicle being driven by a test applicant who was accompanied by Hartley.
Hartley provided his driving licence details and inquiries revealed that he had never held an HGV entitlement. Hartley had been working as a subcontractor for Demo Motors, trading as Westgate Training of Aldridge. That company confirmed that it had paid Hartley £60 a day to teach driving in various types of HGV; the company had assumed that be held the appropriate licence.
Defending, Barry Pierce said that at the beginning of June Hartley had been doing some fork-lift driver training for Westgate when they asked him if he would take on some NV driver instruction.
Hartley agreed as he felt that he was covered because he held a full driving licence and had been a lorry driver 50 years ago.
He trained a learner driver for four days, and the pupil passed his driving test. Hartley had now qualified to drive rigids, artics and buses without undergoing any training.
The magistrates fined Hartley £100 per offence with £150 costs.