Railways Lend Vans to Employees
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TOsave the cost of employing furniture removers, drivers employed by British Railways are allowed to use their employers' vans to transfer their goods from house to house, and are charged merely time and mileage.
This situation was outlined at Bradford City Court, last week, when a driver using a B.R. van on personal removal work found that he was not covered by insurance. He denied the offence, but was fined f10.
The man, James Edward Fagan, Plover Street, Little Horton (Yorks), explained in court that he was acting with the approval of his foreman when he loaded up the van from his previous home at Roundhill Street, Bradford. He produced his railway driver's record sheet to show that the work was completed. Another railway driver supported his contention over vehicle loans, adding that the transport of furniture need not be fed out to specialists. The railways would always give permission for one of their vans to be used on the job.
However, Sgt. Thomas L. Penn, for the prosecution, said the railway van's insurance did not cover Fagan's private work. A constable had checked and found that the third-party insurance was valid only for the vehicle's use in connection with the railways' business as a transport undertaking.
In court Fagan declared that the railways had not charged him for the use of the vehicle as a removal van since hearing of the impending court case. Nothing had been said by his superiors, in fact.