Hoyle wins on wheels
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• A pair of semi-trailer wheels that became detached from an attic operated by Joseph Hoyle Transport have never been found, Ripon Magistrates were told on Wednesday.
The company and the driver of the artic, Christopher Bownes, admitted using a vehicle with dangerous parts, but were both given an absolute discharge after magistrates were told that the wheel loss was part of what had become known as the "lost wheels mystery". The court was told that Bownes had been driving the artic at Hutton Conyers on 4 July, when two nearside rear wheels had become detached from the axle. The wheels had never been found. When the trailer had been examined by the police they had found that part of the hub of the wheel had broken away, three of the studs had disappeared and only seven studs were still on the hub. The hub and some of the bolts had had traces of rust on the inner edges that had broken, which indicated that the fractures were of long standing.
The magistrates made no order as to costs and did not endorse Bownes' driving licence_