"Mass Attacks" by Examiners Alleged
Page 38
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
D° you usually make mass attacks on transport?" This question was put to a Ministry of Transport vehicle examiner, Mr. J. B. King, by Mr. T. H. Campbell Wardlaw before Bridgwater magistrates last week, when Siddle C. Cook, Ltd., Consett, and John Peveller, Parmeter Street, South Moor, Stanley, Co. Durham, appeared on charges connected with the use of a vehicle alleged to have inefficient brakes and to be in a dangerous condition.
Mr. King said that Peveller's lorry was examined at Hunspill. The rear near-side wheel was jacked up and found to be movable when the hand brake was fully applied. The rear brake drums •were saturated with oil, and the brake spindle and bushes excessively worn.
Mr. Wardlaw asked the witness whether examinations were made by inspectors in "coveys."
Mr. King: "The state of the vehicles on the road has made it necessary."
Mr. Wardlaw: "You were all drafted in for the day, weren't you? And if you do a bad day's shooting it's a bad thing, isn't it? "
Witness: "That spirit does not come into it at all."
Mr. S. F. Jours, Newcastle upon Tyne, engineering consultant, stated that it was not a fair test to jack up one wheel; all four wheels should have been jacked up at the same time. Allegations about defects were denied by the defendants.
The charges were dismissed.