Case may finish haulier
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• Dumfriesbased haulier Ivor M Carson faces ruin following a Sheriffs ruling in favour of a vehicle lessor.
Carson was trying to get compensation and a replacement vehicle from NWS Bank, which holds the lease contract on an E-reg Volvo F12 which, Carson argued, was not tireworthy".
The haulier will now have to pay legal costs and make back payments on the vehicle lease. "This could put us out of business," says partner David Carson.
The vehicle, supplied as a 6x2 by Carlisle Commercials, had undergone a Volvo-approved lift axle conversion, carried out by Hendrickson Norde. After persistent problems with the truck, and despite attempts to correct these, independent engineers concluded that the conversion had made it "unfit for the purpose intended" and illegal for use on the road. The truck has not turned a wheel since September 1989.
Hendrickson Norde managing director John Kelleher says: "We addressed any problems and we have not heard anything for a couple of years now."
The Dumfries Sheriff's Court dismissed Carson's claim on the precedent of an Edinburgh Court of sessions ruling on a similar case in 1990, which also involved NWS. In that case the court ruled that as NWS was a finance company, and did not actually supply the goods concerned, the term "hireworthiness" did not apply.
The court has now upheld the counter-claim by NWS for back payments on the lease, as Carson has refused to pay anything since the engineers' reports were made.