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NOT GUILTY 11/ A serious problem now facing the whole
Page 59
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transport industry came to light when you published a letter (CM 22-28 March) complaining of the miscarriage of justice when ownerdriver Billy Daniels was convicted at Maidstone Crown Court of "knowingly importing" a crate weighing one tonne, hidden in the middle of a full trailer load of groupage on a return load from Spain. You followed it up the next week in News Headlines when you headed it "Drivers in drugs danger".
You reported how he had taken the return load at extremely short notice, was not present when the trailer was loaded, and could not possibly have had any knowledge of the contents of the load.
At his trial the judge ruled: "A driver must know what is on his vehicle, and it does not matter if it be found to contain drugs, arms, tobacco, por nography, or any other prohibited substance, the driver must be guilty." This creates 'Case-Law' and establishes a precedent already being quoted by HM Customs — basically if it is on the vehicle, the driver is fully responsible. We already have Absolute Liability for overloading, but we now have Absolute Liability for contents of load as well.
Some of us, who were ignorant of Daniels' existence before this, looked into the case because of the implications for everyone in the transport industry.
The further we delved, the more we became convinced. Billy Daniels is innocent. He had no chance to arrange or obtain the drugs; he had no chance to load them, and his behaviour on the journey home was not that of someone Who knew that the load contained something illegal. He exchanged his good tractor unit for an outward-bound friend's faulty one to get it back for repair, drawing attention to himself with a blowing exhaust and clattering anti-roll bar bush. Not the action of a guilty man.
His lawyers were apparently unable to explain to the court how impossible it would be for a driver with a mixed load of groupage to know the contents of every package; it seems the points in favour of the driver were not put to the court, and misunderstandings of the size and nature of a groupage load were never properly explained. Even when Daniels pointed this out to the judge in a letter, it was not put to the jury.
While Billy Daniels, almost certainly an innocent man already in jail for a year, faces the rest of his 13-year sentence, the transport industry faces the nightmare of the new Absolute Liability ruling. The only way this ruling can be overturned is if Daniels can successfully appeal against his conviction.
While an appeal has been lodged and solicitors and a barrister who are experts in road transport have been consulted, his wife and family have no money to pay legal fees. He is desperately in need of help to finance the appeal. A trust fund has been set up and we are seeking hauliers, drivers, trade associations, and so on, to donate.
Cheques should be made payable to The Billy Daniels Appeal Fund, and sent c/o Ward and Associates, 179 West Street, Fareham, Hants P016 OEF. Please enclose your name and address for our records.
Joint Trustees
David j Raymer MInstTA, Appeal Fund Organiser. Alan j Gidley, Treasurer and recently retired manager of the South Eastern District of the RHA.
UNBELIEVABLE • I was particularly interested in your article about steering trailer axles, having just returned from driving hravy vehicles in Israel for nearly five years.
On my return to the UK, a few months ago, I found it
quite hard to comprehend that the majority of tri-axle trailers here in the UK were nonsteered, taking into consideration the extra expense involved. I would have thought that reducing wheel-scrub and easier steering would have somebody buying one here in the UK.
Every time I see a fully loaded tri-axle trailer go round a corner and see the scrub, what with the cost of wide singles, I think that surely manufacturers should have produced one in the UK by now.
I drove a Mack Ultraliner with a Cummins 440hp coupled to a tri-axle trailer, transporting grain from Haifa to an animal feed centre.
When one wanted to reverse, all one had to do was flick a switch in the cab which locked the steering axle in a straight line.
Keep up the good work on the magazine.
A Bogen, London E5.
Commercial Motor welcomes readers' letters, which can be phoned in on 081-661 3689 (24-hour service). Letters may be edited for length and do not necessarily represent the views of the editor.