Read in court
Page 7
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GEORGE M. Read, one of the two hauliers from the Forest of Dean to take successful legal action against the National Union of Mineworkers over secondary picketing appeared at disciplinary proceedings before the acting Western Licensing Authority Sir John Potter in Cheltenham last week.
The LA was considering taking action against Mr Read's national licence in the light of vehicle prohibitions and overloading convictions. He was also considering an application to renew the licence in respect of 15 vehicles and 16 trailers.
Dealing with the two convictions, Mr Read said, they were both in respect of axle overloads. In the first case he considered that the vehicle had not been weighed properly at a dynamic weighbridge. He appealed and had the fine reduced from £150 to £25.
There had been no facilities for the driver to check axle weights.
He had never previously been weighed on a dynamic axle weigher and when the vehicle was weighed it was not at the correct walking pace.
The second conviction involved a load which was collected by a driver after the trailer had been loaded by a previous driver. The driver picking up the trailer failed to check it.
The load consisted of iron filings and it was a dense and small load. The filings could be affected by water and it was a very wet morning. The fine of £25 and £5 for the driver showed that it was a marginal case.
On the question of maintenance, Sir John said, there had been a batch of vehicle prohibitions in 1980, one in 1981, a batch in 1982 and a couple at the beginning of 1983.
Mr Read agreed there had been a bad patch. He said that the vehicle examiner had told him that most were "bad luck" prohibitions for defects beyond their control.
Taking no action other than to issue a warning and granting renewal for the full five years, Sir John said there had been a vast improvement in maintenance.