Whorton's tough tonic
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• The managing director of II J Whorton Transport was so incensed about one of the company's drivers overloading a vehicle, that he took legal advice about a private prosecution against the driver because he had put the company's licence in jeopardy.
This was revealed when the company successfully applied to renew its international licence for 40 vehicles and six trailers, before West Midland Deputy Licensing Authority Gerrard Sullivan. The company had been called before the DLA because of concern about drivers' hours and records and overloading offences.
For the company, Michael Carless said that though Whorton had been convicted of permitting drivers' hours offences at Lichfield last February, those offences had been in the pipeline when it had appeared at a previous public inquiry in December 1987. The offences that had led to those convictions had been committed prior to the undertakings given by the company at that inquiry.
Two overloading convictions since the last public inquiry was a pretty good record, in view of the size of the operation, said Carless. The drivers involed in those offences had been dismissed. There was a possibility of a further prosecution pending.
The incident had concerned a 3.5-tonne vehicle which had been sent to collect a load consisting of half-tonne pallets. When asked how many pallets were to be put on, the driver had answered nine.
As soon as Whorton found out about it, the driver had been "dismissed".
In any operation of this size, there was an irreducible minimum of prosecutions it was impossible to get below, Carless argued. He said that the company was perhaps unique in the area in having installed a dynamic axle weigher at its premises. It was losing drivers because of the attitude and action it took towards overloading.
Whorton said he had been in business for 30 years. He tried hard but he was sometimes let down by the human element. Renewing the licence, Sullivan said it was obvious that Morton was taking his duties very seriously.