Haulier Committed for Conspiracy
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A HAULIER, Willie Meller, Putting L'A I lill Farm, Denbydale, Yorks, was committed for trial at Leeds Assizes by the West Riding magistrates, on Monday, on a charge of conspiring with Frank Moody, Denbydalc. to defraud justice by attempting to _mislead the Yorkshire Licensing Authority.
Mr. J. D. Walker, prosecuting, said the defendant had four A-licence. a B-licence and a C-licence vehicle. On July 9 last year, Mr. L. S. Day, an official examiner, called on Meller and asked him to produce his drivers' records for the preceding three months.
Metter said the records were kept with the vehicles and he would forward them as soon as possible. It was now alleged that he approached one of his drivers, Mr. H. F. Crowe, of Holmfirth, and asked him to make out false records. 'Crowe refused in the presence of Mr. Lockwood, another driver.
Meller then approached Moody, who lived in a house owned by the defendant, and he filled in records from April to June, because he was afraid of losing his home. Moody could not have driven the vehicles on some of the dates given because at that time he was employed by another operator.
On July 16, the completed records were handed in at Huddersfield traffic office. They seemed to he in order and were returned to the defendant.
Some time later ,the Authority was informed by Moody and Crowe, who had been dismissed by Meller and had a grudge over wages, that the records were false. Another examiner, Mr. W. Foster, called on Metier and was given the same records.
Mr. Meller was granted bail on a surety of £20.
LAND-ROVER NOT LIMITED TO 30 M.P.H.
BECAUSE of its four-wheel drive, a Land-Rover 107 is a dual-purpose vehicle within the meaning of the Road Traffic Act. This was decided by the Queen's Bench Divisional Court, on Tuesday.
The court quashed, with costs, a conviction by Wareham (Dorset) magistrates, last July, of Mr. Clarence Kidson, Arne Farm Cottage, Arne, near Wareham. He was then fined £3, and costs, for exceeding -30 m.p.h. with a Land-Rover. For the appellant, it was submitted that the vehicle was a dualpurpose vehicle, and was not limited to 30 m.p.h.
Giving judgment, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Goddard, said that Mr. Kidson was driving a Land-Rover which could carry passengers in the cab and goods in the back. It was capable of being used as a four-wheel-drive vehicle, and this brought it within the meaning of a dual-purpose vehicle. It was, therefore, not subject to the 30 m.p.h. limit on goods vehicles. Mr. Justice Cassels and Mr. Justice Lynskey agreed.