Trade plate victory
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• A bodybuilder has won a key court battle to establish when a vehicle is allowed to run on trade plates. Had it been lost it could have outlawed many of the journeys made by manufacturers and their customers.
Marquiss of Scotland, the Dumfriesshire-based recovery vehicle builder, was charged with six offences of mis-using trade plates following a trip a customer made in January.
Lawyers from the Crown Prosecution Services had hoped to make a test case when Marquiss came before Crewe Crown Court last week, alleging that because the driver had another vehicle on the back of the Iveco Ford Cargo transporter he was testing, he was carrying goods and therefore breaking the rules governing trade plates.
The Transit recovery vehicle was being taken from Marquiss's Midland subsidiary to Scotland, but the company claimed in court it was being carried as a test load.
Manufacturers and dealers are allowed to run on trade plates, without tachographs or operators licences, if the vehicle is being tested or moved for repair or delivery. The court dismissed the charges and awarded the company costs