Jackson is found guilty at Cannock
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• Scots haulier Thomas Lithgow Jackson was ordered to pay 1,341.65 in fines, costs and back duty, when he appeared before Cannock magistrates accused of a series of offences.
Jackson, of Quay Street, Port Bannatyne, Isle of Bute, denied using a vehicle without the correct rate of excise duty; with an unsealed and defective tachograph; and without having a two-year test on the tachograph. He also denied failing to display a Ministry plate, using an untested trailer, and making a false declaration to obtain an excise licence.
Police officers said that when an artic belonging to Jackson was stopped it was displaying an excise licence at the £130 rate for vehicles that were exempt from plating and testing. No Ministry plates were displayed on either the tractive unit or the semi-trailer.
Jackson claimed that he was covered by the exemption from plating and testing for vehicles based on off-shore islands. However, senior traffic examiner Gerry Best said that Jackson had made two unsuccessful attempts to obtain a licence with an operating centre on the Isle of Bute. His current licence, for four vehicles and two trailers, had an operating centre at Lesmahagow.
The magistrates dismissed the charge relating to the use of an untested trailer after Jackson produced a current test certificate. They also dismissed the allegation of making a false declaration to obtain an excise licence. They found Jackson guilty of the other offences. He was fined a total of £275 and ordered to pay £966.65 back duty and £100 prosecution costs.