• A Midlands pig farmer has just discdvered, after 13
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years of collecting pig swill in his truck without the necessary 0-licence, that he has been running illegally. Clifford William Foster and Sons, of Dodford near Bromsgrove managed to persuade West Midlands Deputy Licensing Authority Ronald Jackson last week that it knew nothing about the 0-licensing system.
Jackson granted the firm a restricted licence for two vehicles because, he said, he was satisfied that it had operated in ignorance.
Michael Carless said on the firm's behalf that the partners had wrongly believed that the 3.5-tonne 0licensing limit related to unladen weight, rather than gross weight. The vehicle concerned had been stopped in roadside checks, and had been tested each year, without anyone drawing the partners' attention to their mistake. It was only when they obtained a second vehicle, of 7.5 tonnes, that they applied for a licence.
After local residents had expressed concern that the size of the vehicles might increase in the future, partner Martin Foster gave an assurance that it was not their intention to operate anything larger than a 7. 5tonner. Jackson granted a five-year licence, without conditions.