Case dismissed over lost chart
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• A charge of dangerous driving against a Belfast truck driver was dismissed after magistrates at Warley, near Dudley, heard that the police had lost a vital tachograph chart.
Sean McClements of Ballycastle. Belfast had pleaded not guilty to a charge of dangerous driving. Gerry McCraken, prosecuting, alleged that Clement's vehicle, carrying a load of mushrooms from Holyhead to the West Midlands, had been involved in an incident with a car at the Oldbury junction on the
MTh on 28 January 1998. He was driving for Harkin Haulage of Belfast.
But Timothy Deal, defending, told the magistrates that the case should not continue without the production of the relevant (ache chart.
One of the magistrates said he could not understand why the chart had not been produced before. considering the alleged incident took place more than two years ago.
"We have no alternative but to dismiss the charge," he concluded.