Blamires Appeal
Page 7
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APRESTON haulage company and its managing director appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday against conviction at Lancaster Assizes last February of conspiracy to contravene the Road Traffic Act in relation to drivers' hours of work.
Blamires Transport Services Ltd. had been ordered to pay prosecution costs not exceeding 12,000 and Mr. Winston Blarnire was fined £1,005.
Both had been convicted of conspiracy to permit drivers employed by the company to make false records, and of conspiracy in permitting drivers not to have at least 10 consecutive hours'. rest in 24.
Mr. Edgar Fay, Q.C., for the appellants, told the court—Mr. Justice Edmund Davies, Mr. Justice Widgery and Mr. Justice John Stephenson—that the prosecution alleged there was a practice of drivers contravening the Road Traffic Act by driving longer than permitted and not having sufficient rest. It was said that this was done in pursuance of the alleged conspiracy.
The grounds of appeal were that the indictment alleged a conspiracy unknown to law and that the Assizes judge, Mr. Justice Fenton Atkinson, did not correctly direct the jury in regard to the necessity of corroboration of accomplices' evidence.
• Mr.. Fay said the Road Traffic Act offences, which the alleged conspiracy was directed to procuring, were only triable summarily—before magistrates. Conspiracy to procure such offences could not be the subject of a trial on indictment, counsel contended.
Mr. I. D. Cantley, QC., prosecuting. contended that the indictment was good. The judge's summing-up had been perfectly adequate, he added.
The court reserved judgment,