LA calls
Page 15
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for licence holder
0-LICENCE holder Mrs M. R. Kennedy, trading as Rosehill Trucking Company, Ridley, Co Durham, did not appear before the Northern LA at a " show cause" hearing because of illness last week, and the hearing was adjourned to Newcastle upon Tyne on March 1.
The LA, Mr B. J. Foster, referred to convictions against the firm: concerning drivers' hours, December, 1973; unauthorised use of a vehicle, June, 1974; overloading offences, December, 1974, and November, 1975.
Mr H. J. O'Bee, transport manager, said he was responsible for day to day operations and instructing drivers.
Mr O'Bee said he had been with the firm since its formation in 197, before which he was an owner-driver; he was also a time-served fitter and fully conversant with the requirements of the Transport Act.
Concerning the convictions, Mr O'Bee said that the driver involved in the hours offences in 1973, had been dismissed ; the unauthorised use resulted from the purchase of a pantechnicon for which he asked Mrs Kennedy to seek authorisation as there was no licence margin. She had not done so and the vehicle was used illegally.
The overloading convictions in December, 1974, were in Nottinghamshire when drivers disobeyed instructions ; the most recent case concerned a vehicle carrying asbestos from store and he had under estimated the weight. For a 11 tons gross overload and 1 ton 6cwt on the front axle there were fines totalling £125.
Mr O'Bee agreed with the LA that the vehicle should have been weighed and said this was his responsibility, not Mrs Kennedy's. She was also a director of a warehousing company in Consett, Co Durham. Two of the firm's five specified vehicles were at present off the road because of the economic recession.