Horbury fined £2,895
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• Knutsford magistrates have fined Horbury Refrigerated Services its associated company Horbury Freight Services, and five of its drivers a total of £2,895, including costs, for using another company's Licence, overloading and drivers' hours and tachograph offences.
Prosecuting for the North Western Traffic Area, Christopher Worthy said the offences came to light when a Horbury refrigerated vehicle, stopped in a weight check, was seen to be displaying a disc referring to a licence held by GN Barlow & Sons. Barlow's had approached Horbury to take over its transport operation but Horbury's landlord would not allow it to expand its existing premises and Barlow's had said Horburys could use its licence and premises free of charge until it could find new premises and seek a licence of its own_ Describing the case as a "bureaucratic nightmare" John Pollard, defending, said Horbury had been unable to buy the vehicles so there was a complex financial arrangement with the vehicles being sold and leased back to Horbury.
To the outside world there was no change as the same vehicles, painted in the same livery, driven by the same drivers, operated from the same yard. The technical change was that Norbury was now the operator. The licensing offences had inadvertently arisen out of ignorance of the law, and did not lead to a financial gain.
The fact that a test certificate had expired was overlooked. A replacement vehicle provided after a vehicle broke down was equipped with a different type of tachograph without the company's knowledge. Disciplinary action had been taken against the driver who had failed to hand in the charts.
Horbury Refrigerated Services was fined 21,820 with 2300 costs on 11 offences of using 0-licence identity discs with intent to deceive; nine of using vehicles without a licence; one of having no test certificate; one of failing to issue a driver with the tight tachograph charts and one of using a vehicle with an axle overload.
Horbury Freight Services was also fined £200 on two offences of failing to produce tachograph records. Philip Hellow was fined .250 for exceeding 4172 hours continuous driving; Gerald Gillie was fined £50 with £25 costs for a similar offence; Stephen Pugh was fined .2160 for the actual overload; Malcolm Parton was fined £270 on eight hours offences and one of failing to use a tachograph and William Jones was fined 220 for failing to make required entries on the centre field of a chart.