Duty and fines order quashed
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Stafford Crown Court has quashed an order that Corby-based ACK Haulage should pay £1,155 in back duty after a tractor taxed at the concessionary rate was found to be hauling a two-axled semi-trailer. Judge Anthony Tonking also cut a fine imposed by Stafford magistrates from £2,000 to £500.
Managing director, Andrew Kevan said an established customer had accidentally loaded the two-axled trailer instead of a triaxle trailer, and the driver, who was an experienced man, failed to react.
The company had another tractor taxed at the higher rate which could have done the job; when stopped the trailer was carrying no more than six empty pallets.
A series of floods had forced the company to evacuate its premises. A cheque for 2256.67 which the DVLA had originally asked for was sent two days late, and it refused to accept it, said Kevan.
Arguing that the penalty had been excessive, Jonathan Lawton, for the company, said that what had occurred was no more than an error. The company had more than adequate funding and there were no previous convictions for offences of this sort.
Quashing the back duty order and cutting the fine, Tonking said he was taking into account the circumstances of the offence, the reputation of the company, the speed with which a guilty plea had been entered and the fact that a payment of 1256.67 for back duty would have been considered a sufficient penalty.