Operator delivered
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
AN OPERATOR who failed to attend the public inquiry, the outcome of which was that the Licensing Authority refused to renew his Operator's licence, has won a second chance — by blaming it on the Post Office.
Castleford commercial vehicle dealer J. E. Hart had not turned up to the public inquiry in September last year and in his absence Yorkshire LA Maj-Gen John Carpenter had refused to renew his 0licence, which had expired on April 30, 1979.
Mr Hart had subsequently appealed to the Transport Tribunal in London, but chairman of the Tribunal, George Squibb, told Hart's solicitor, David Ake, that it was not the Tribunal's function to act as a substitute LA and so refused to hear the evidence that Hart would have given.
The Tribunal did allow Hart to explain his absence. Hart said that he had not received the recorded letter notifying him of the date of the inquiry, and neither had a reminder.
In a written judgment the Tribunal decided that "having seen and heard the Appellant, we do not feel justified in saying that we do not believe him". Therefore, "in the interests of justice" the case is to be remitted to the Yorkshire LA for a second public inquiry.