Fined for fraudulent use of roadtax disc
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• Using an untaxed vehicle and the fraudulent use of an excise licence cost Loughborough-based Jaggard Transport, and its managing director David Jaggard, a total of £1,337.50 in fines, costs and back duty when they appeared before Macclesfield magistrates.
The company pleaded guilty to using an untaxed vehicle and was fined £160 with £812.50 back duty and £50 costs.
Jaggard denied the fraudulent use of an excise licence but was convicted and fined £240 with £75 costs.
DOT traffic examiner Duncan Pimblott said a Foden being driven by Jaggard was stopped at a check at Rostherne in February He noticed that the tax disc displayed related to a Peugeot car.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, John Heaton said the DVLA had confirmed a tax refund of £2,166.66 relating to the Foden had been paid to the company in December 1996.
Jaggard said there had been some confusion over the tax disc. When he replaced the windscreen of the Foden ready for its MOT test in December he noticed that the tax disc was split and that there was another one stuck to it underneath. He did not know exactly how the Peugeot disc came to be there but had thought that he might as well send it back to Swansea—he must have put the Peugeot disc in the windscreen and sent the Foden disc back to Swansea by mistake.
He could have avoided the check at Rostherne—there was a practice among drivers who told you when the men from the ministry were about. He had got the thumbs down on that but had felt he had nothing to hide so he proceeded past the checkpoint.
Accepting that he must have had the refund, Jaggard said he did not always know what post and payments he received: his wife would have opened the letter and banked the cheque. He only did the books every three months when the VAT was due and he would have picked it up at the end of February In reply to Heaton, Jaggard agreed that the Peugeot was nothing to do with him and that it was his handwriting on the refund form.
He denied that he had seen an opportunity of running the vehicle with a tax disc that was up to date and looked all right and to obtain a refund.