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• Stephen Slater, who trades as Loud Vale Haulage, of Lancaster, was given an absolute discharge after admitting using a vehicle without an operator's licence and using an operator's licence identity disc with intent to deceive, when he appeared before Wigan Magistrates.
The driver of the vehicle, Adrian Fisher, of Morecambe, was given an absolute discharge after admitting failing to display a rear number plate on the semi-trailer, Prosecuting, Lynsay Thomas said that when the vehicle was stopped by a police officer it was seen to be displaying a licence identity disc belonging to another vehicle.
Defending, John Backhouse said that Fisher had been issued with two number plates, one of which he had lost. He had told Slater that he had put the other on the trailer before he left, so it must have dropped off. Slater held an 0-licence but the vehicle concerned was not specified on it.
The licence authorised one vehicle and one trailer. The original vehicle was written off in an accident and Slater obtained a replacement.
As there was no margin on the licence, it was necessary for him to immediately notify the Licensing Authority.
He forgot to do so. In the worry of having the first vehicle written off, he just told another driver to swap everything over into the new vehicle. He saw that the driver had swapped the licence disc over but forgot to do anything about it, when really he should have immediately taken it out of the cab.
Given the circumstances, it was a fairly technical matter, said Backhouse.
Slater had only ever used one vehicle at once and no real harm had been done. The magistrates ordered Slater to pay costs of ,C40 and Fisher of .£25.