Banned vehicles hired back to company
Page 32
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Two vehicles removed from the 0 licence of Cartwright Transport Ltd, of Wolverhampton, following disciplinary proceedings, were sold to another haulier, Shorthouse Bros Ltd, who then hired the vehicles back to Cartwright.
This was said by Mr P. D. Wiseman, prosecuting for the DoE, when Cartwright faced 11 charges of operating vehicles without an 0 licence before Wolverhampton Borough magistrates at Bilston this week.
Following guilty pleas the company was fined a total of £55 with costs of £15.
In December 1970 the West Midland LA, Mr John Else, removed 23 vehicles and 14 trailers from the company's licence which at the time authorized 50 vehicles and 34 trailers. Evidence was given that in the last two years 44 prohibitions had been imposed on the company's vehicles.
Mr Wiseman said the offences involved three vehicles that had been removed from the licence. The first vehicle was stopped in a roadside check in Berkshire during May and subsequent inquiries revealed that it had been used on most days in that month. The company's explanation was that it was in temporary use to replace a vehicle undergoing overhaul.
A check of the company's records revealed that the other two vehicles involved had been sold to Shorthouse Bros. and then hired back to Cartwright. The vehicles were in constant use and the company had thought it had found a convenient way of getting around the regulations.
In mitigation, Mr G. W. J. Davies, for the defendant company, said that it had had to make 10 drivers redundant and had lost three major contracts because of the disciplinary action. The first vehicle had been used through a misunderstanding. The company had sought advice from the RHA who said it could make a temporary substitution without making an application but the RHA had not realized that the margin for increase had been removed from the licence. The Shorthouse vehicles were originally fully employed in Shorthouse's own business. That business became flat and Cartwright commenced using them on hire in April, again in substitution for vehicles being overhauled.
In December the LA had said he was prepared to consider applications for additional vehicles after six months. In fact, although an application had been launched the LA had not yet considered it because of the present prosecution. Consequently, the penalty imposed by the LA was nearer 12 months than six.