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Staffs trial starts
FFORDSHIRE HAULIER Philip Leo Taylor, trading as Taylor's sport of Lichfield, denied a series of charges of handling stolen ulated tractive units, a stolen semi-trailer and stolen excise ces before Stoke on Trent Crown Court last week.
• Taylor is accused of dis;stly handling nine excise -ices, four tractive units e Volvos and a Scania) ?.d at £79,500 and a 40ft tilt evalued at £8,500. The trial cpected to last for two to
weeks.
r the prosecution, Wilson or QC said that it was al d that Mr Taylor, of Haedon Shenstone, knew or bethat the property had stolen. Mr Taylor had in a fairly large way with 50 vehicles authorised on )perator's licence. The case that during 1980, possibly use business became poor, Taylor resorted to dis.isty.
; far as the excise licences e concerned, Mr Taylor ied to save himself the cost of licensing some Foden tippers which would have cost him £774 per vehicle to tax. Instead he received from people in Lancashire certain excise licences which had been stolen from private cars. The details on the licences were removed by fluid and Mr Taylor then entered the details of his lorries.
When interviewed about the excise licences, Mr Taylor had admitted that he had purchased them for cash. He had said that it would finish him as he was already "up to the eyes in it."
Fre had purchased blank licences from a man at a commercial vehicle sale, paying around £10 for every month left to run on the licences. His business was going through a rough patch and he had thought it was a good way to save money. He had admitted that he knew that the licences were stolen.
Turning to the vehicles and trailers Mr Mellor said the first tractive unit was a Volvo F88 belonging to Group Trailer Services which had been stolen from a lorry park in Enfield.
Mr Taylor had said that he had been approached by a Bill Squires and he had told him that he would be interested in buying a stolen vehicle. He said that Squires who was a truck dealer had brought the vehicle up from London himself.
The Scania tractive unit had been the subject of a hire purchase agreement with T. Armstrong Ltd and a Volvo F10 tractive unit by a similar agreement with a Gordon Crompton. Both vehicles were subsequently reported stolen and insurance claims made.
The fourth tractive unit, a Volvo F10 owned by Fleet Hire, had been stolen from premises in Manchester. All the tractive units were discovered in the grounds of Mr Taylor's home bearing false registration plates. The F88 had been painted in the livery of Taylor's Transport.
The semi-trailer belonging to Gilfex Trailer Hire, which had been stolen from premises in Manchester, was found at Mr Taylor's yard at Tamworth Road, Lichfield and the words "Gilflex" had been painted over. Mr Taylor had said that three of the tractive units had been delivered by men from Liverpool.
He did not know their names. He had paid around £2,000 each for the tractive units. They had also bought the trailer which he did not really want and they were supposed to come back and take it away.
The case continues.