Badly prepared case was H a a r u s l for cars stole discourteous to court easy money
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• The badly prepared case of a Poole operator drew a stern rebuke from Mr G. C. Mercer, South Eastern deputy LA, at a public inquiry in Southampton last Friday.
He told Mr J. Green, group secretary of Fleetbridge Supplies Ltd, that his company's lack of preparation for the inquiry would not only be a waste of public money but was discourteous to the traffic court and unfair to other operators waiting. He adjourned the case till a later date.
The deputy LA had difficulty in establishing with the operator which vehicles were being operated on Fleetbridge's four-vehicle licence. The company had been called to a public inquiry after one delayed prohibition had been imposed at a fleet inspection in Poole and two prohibition notices on two vehicles for which a licence had been requested in the Western traffic area.
The LA for the Western traffic area had also called the company to a public inquiry but the operator had not attended and the application had not been pursued.
Mr Mercer said that in the absence of any evidence to the contrary he would be compelled to conclude that the company was reluctant to pursue this licence application because it would have to appear at a public inquiry.
Defective brakes and other faults caused a warning to be given to Mr A. R. Hoskin, manager of a Cosham firm, Baco Aluminium (Ravensbourne) Ltd, by Mr Mercer.
The company's vehicle was brought to the notice of the DoE vehicle examiner after a traffic incident involving a pedestrian. The driver, who was no longer employed by Baco, was prosecuted for dangerous driving.
It was alleged that Baco had had difficulty with the local garage which formerly maintained its vehicles. Maintenance sheets had not been supplied regularly and the garage had now been changed.
Giving his decision, Mr Mercer accepted the evidence produced by Baco that the vehicle's brakes had been serviced shortly before the incident. However, it was necessary, he said, for proper documentation to be obtained and as this was now being done, he thought that a warning would be appropriate. • After falling into financial difficulties, two Lancashire haulage contractors found a very easy way to make money by purchasing cars and then selling them without paying off the outstanding amount.
This was heard at Manchester County magistrates' court last week when Mr Dennis Light and his uncle, Mr John Coffins, both of Berlin Road, Edgerly, nr Stockport, admitted to stealing two cars valued at £1930. Both men have also admitted gaining a £625 loan for the purchase of a car by using a false name.
Mr Light asked for six other offences including four of stealing vehicles to be taken into consideration and Mr Collins asked for two offences of stealing cars to be considered.
Both were committed for sentence, in custody, to Manchester Crown Court.