Bulk haulier is banned
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• Cheshire bulk haulier Stanley Fernyhough has been banned from holding or obtaining an 0-licence for five years following convictions for the theft of part loads of grain, and for conspiring with drivers to falsify tachograph charts.
West Midland Deputy LA Roger Seymour revoked Fernyhough's licence for 20 vehicles and trailers at a Birmingham public inquiry.
In September 1989 the Swythamley, Macclesfield-based haulier was jailed for 15 months for his part in the grain theft (CM 5-11 Oct 1989), and for another nine months in March 1990 for the tachograph offences (CM 15-21 March 1990).
Seymour said that there was also an allegation that Fernyhough had made false declarations to obtain vehicle excise licenses: the lost duty was said to be some £12,000. He understood there had been a question of prosecution but the back duty had been paid. Fernyhough said the tachograph convictions had been appealed against last September but he had not yet heard anything.
The DLA said that in addition to being a haulier, Fernyhough ran three farms. He had collected grain from his haulage customers and tipped off a proportion at his farms before the vehicles proceeded to their destinations.
Denying that it had been done for gain, Fernyhough said that the vehicles concerned had been overloaded and he had not been prepared to be prosecuted for overloading.
Seymour referred to allegations that the drivers had been paid £50 for each load from which grain was taken, but Fernyhough replied that that was only what the prosecution said. As far as the falsification of tachograph charts was concerned, he denied knowing what was going on and claimed it all boiled down to the drivers wanting to get home to their wives.
Holding that Fernyhough was no longer of good repute, Seymour said that his conduct as a haulier had breached his customers' trust and had been at the customers' expense. He had to take the tachograph convictions at face value, but if circumstances should change as a result of the pending appeal he might be prepared to review the period of disqualification.