IHA chairman's firm in High Court ruling
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IAD HAULAGE Association national chairman Harold Russett's mpany, Premier Transport, is at the centre of a ruling by the High urt, which says that detachable lorry containers should be seen part of the body of a vehicle when legal questions of length and erhang are at issue.
..ord Justice O'Connor and Mr stice Comyn last week Dwed a prosecution appeal by merset Police from a decision Taunton magistrates who had missed a charge of excessive arhang made against Bristol3ed Premier Transport.
he case was sent back to the Igistrates with a direction to ivict.
he magistrates had found t the container was part of the d, not of the vehicle, and that refore the hauliers were not >le for prosecution under the Itor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations.
Lord Justice O'Connor said: "It is obvious that parts of a vehicle which are detachable do not cease to be parts of the vehicle — for example, the wheels.
"The fact that the body of a vehicle is detachable does not justify referring to it as a "container" ... the body of a vehicle does not cease to be a body because it can be detached with ease, laden or unladen and fitted to a sister chassis."
A lorry owned by Premier Transport had been stopped by a police officer in April last year on the M5 at Trull, Somerset. It was suspected of having excessive overhang at the rear.
The vehicle had no body in the conventional sense, said the judge, as it was designed to be used with a container clipped on to act as a body.
Without a container clipped on, the vehicle complied with the regulations, but with the container it did not.
Mr Russett's son, Robert, told CM that the ruling will not hurt Premier's daily operation, as it will ensure that the offending demountable/vehicle combination is no longer used.
He added that the company felt obliged to take the case through the legal process in view of Premier's current prominence in the industry.