With wins appeal
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• Ray Witts, who trades as Ray Witts Transport, has successfully
appealed aga-nst a conviction for three offences of permitting the use of a vehicle with defective tyres.
At Burnley Crown Court Derek Halbert, for Witts, argued that the magistrates' findings were fundamentally unsound. He said that there was evidence showing an extensive system for vehicle inspection. Witts employed his own fulltime fitter for maintenance and servicing; had an arrangement with a local tyre firm; and employed consultant engineers to check over his vehicles on a monthly basis.
To be guilty of permitting, Witts would either have had to knowingly allow the vehicle to leave his yard with defective tyres, or deliberately ignore facts that would have been brought to his attention. The magistrates had found Witts guilty, but did not endorse his driving licence.