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High Court rules on recovery regs
Page 6
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• The road haulage industry heaved a sigh of relief on Monday after the High Court ruled a recovery vehicle could draw more than one trailer.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was appealing at the Old Bailey against a decision by Dunstable, Bedfordshire magistrates on a technical point which had widespread implications.
On 5 January, magistrates cleared driver Alan Yates and his employers, Cox Auto and Commercials, for an offence under the 1972 Road Traffic Act. He was stopped by the police while driving a recovery vehicle towing a four-wheel rigid lorry which was itself towing a drawbar trailer. Under the Act a locomotive which is not designed to carry a load can tow three trailers.
The DPP, however, argued that the recovery vehicle was carrying the lorry, not towing it, which defined it as a heavy motor car.
The magistrates at the appeal confirmed the original decision that the recovery vehicle was not carrying a load and therefore was defined as a locomotive.