TC ponders licence
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• North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Keith Waterworth is to consider if a restricted licence is appropriate for a Sheffield trailer repair firm which hauls other people's empty trailers Briggs & Bland appeared before the TC at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry following concern over its maintenance record and possible vehicle excise duty discrepancies.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency officer Tony Greenfield said the firm had taxed three tractors at the Private Light Goods rate of £160. That rate was restricted to vehicles used privately or for the hauling of empty trailers to test stations or for road tests.
Greenfield agreed that the firm had not been prosecuted over this case and no attempt had been made to make it pay a higher rate of duty. He accepted that the collection of trailers for repair and their delivery to a test station was a valid use of the PLG rate.
The TC had asked if this was a valid use of a restricted 0-licence, Paul Carless, for the firm, replied that as its business was the repair, maintenance, and inspection of semi-trailers, a restricted licence was appropriate.
Watervvorth said he would give his decision on the licence after further consideration.
Suspending one of its two vehicles for two weeks, the TC said the maintenance record was surprising, given the business the firm was in.