Three-month Sentenc e for Ralph Cropper
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THE London SessiOns Appeal Committee on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by Ralph Charles Frederick Cropper against conviction and a fine of £25 and 100 gns. costs for making a false statement for the purpose of obtaining a carrier's licence, in that he set out on a Ministry of Transport form particulars of the operating centre of Longfield Transport Ltd., 56a Abbey Grove, Abbey Wood, London, S.E.2.
The committee quashed the fine and substituted a three months' prison sentence; he was ordered to pay 150 gns, costs. Giving judgment, the chairman, Mr. R. E. Seaton, said the committee was quite satisfied that the particulars Cropper gave the Ministry were to a very large extent false. They set out Longfield Transport as a flourishing and increasing business whereas its object was to get the Ministry to issue licences which they would not have issued had they known the truth.
He told the appellant it was a deliberate fraud on the Ministry and he must be made an example of. "
We feel it is a pity a little more inspection does not take place when these applications are made. If this had been done this fraud would have been brought to book a very long time ago ", said Mr. Seaton.
Mr. Victor Durand, Q.C., for Ralph Cropper, said the dismissal of the appeal would have a disastrous effect on his client's work. lie was a man of excellent character,