High Court Supports "Weighing Signs"
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rniE question whether motor vehicles 1, can be stopped by the exhibition of a notice, " Stop, Traffic Officer, County Council," was discussed before Lord Hewart and Justices Humphreys and Singleton, in a King's Bench Divisional Court, last week.
Magistrates at Affiersham (Bucks) had fined Langley Cartage Co., Ltd., for aiding and abetting a lorry driver in the offence of refusing to stop in obedience to such a sign exhibited by a weights inspector of Bucks County Council.
Mr. Roland Oliver, K.C. (for the cartage company, which appealed), said that the inspector was exhibiting a sign to stop heavy vehicles, so that they might be weighed. The right to halt vehicles, said Mi. Oliver, was a serious one, because of the possibility of highway robbery. The legislature, realizing that fact, had authorized only policemen in uniform to stop vehicles.
It would appear, however, that on January 5, 1935, the Minister of Transport authorized the erection of traffic signs of specified colour and size, but his (counsel's) contention was that the device used was not a traffic sign within the meaning of the section.
Mr. J. P. Eddy, K.C. (for the inspector), claimed that the sign was used for the regulaton and movement of traffic.
Lord Hewart, in dismissing both appeals, said that the driver had failed to conform with the sign on the instruction of his employer. It had been contended that the stopping device was not a traffic sign and that the Minister's authorization was ultra vices, but the justices had come to the conclusion that to stop a vehicle was to regulate its movement and it was, therefore, a traffic sign. in his opinion, that conclusion was correct.
The appealS were dismissed, with costs.