Operator had no 0-licence
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• The unauthorised use of vehicles and other offences has cost Ian OsborneShaw, trading as Sussex Tipper Services, £3,100 in fines and costs. Appearing before Steyning magistrates Osborne-Shaw, of Angmering, Worthing, admitted 17 offences of the unauthorised use of vehicles, three offences of using vehicles without excise licences, two offences of overloading, and using a vehicle without plating and testing certificates.
After a two-day trial he was convicted of seven offences of displaying 0-licence discs with intent to deceive.
Osborne-Shaw said that the company had been unable to continue trading because of a sudden bad debt. He was able to buy the vehicles and assets from the liquidator for a substantial sum and simply overlooked the need to deal with the 0-licence.
He was interviewed by traffic examiners in December and on a number of subsequent occasions. At no time was it ever suggested that what he was doing amounted to deception. He had applied for a licence in December and had requested interim authority to operate.
It was not until July that he was told that he could not have an interim licence. He had ceased trading in July of this year, had a £200,000 overdraft and no income.
The magistrates fined Osborne-Shaw £400 with £2,500 costs.