SUTTON DUAL-PURPOSE APPEAL DISMISSED
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I N a written judgment issued last week relating to the Sutton and Son (St. Helens) Ltd. appeal. the Transport Tribunal said: If an inferior tribunal arrives at a correct decision for a wrong reason, that is no ground for allowing an appeal against the decision."
The Tribunal dismissed an appeal by Sutton against the refusal of the North Western deputy Licensing Authority to grant an A variation of six additional vehicles on the company's existing "general goods, Great Britain" normal user. The deputy Authority, after 'a fourday hearing, had granted the vehicles—all dual-purpose platform/ta ri kers—with a " bulk liquids" user.
Argument before the Tribunal centred around the question of whether, during the application, the appellants had amended the declaration of normal user at the suggestion of the deputy Licensing Authority.
Dealing with the evidence, the Tribunal said that it was inclined to disagree with the deputy Authority's finding that there was no prima fade case made out for vehicles with a user of "general goods" and would not reject the case that had been made in respect of dry goods merely because no customer evidence had been called. The worst that could be said, the Tribunal added, was that the decision was arrived at for wrong reasons.
(The appeal has been discussed at length in Licensing Casebook on the next page.)