1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184 
Haulier Cleared of Tax Fraud Charges
Page 63
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
AWARWICKSHIRE haulier, who was alleged to have made false incometax returns, with the result that some of his employees had escaped paying the full amount of .tax due from them, was cleared by a jury at Birmingham Quarter Sessions last week.
Leslie Walter Fletcher, managing director of Capers Transport, Ltd., of Balsa!' Common, Warwickshire, pleaded not guilty to five counts alleging that he wilfully made false annual declarations to the Inland Revenue, and not guilty to five that he made false statements to the Inland Revenue.
After a trial lasting for nearly three days, the jury found him not guilty on all counts and he was discharged. . They were deliberating for more than three hours before reaching their verdicts.
The prosecution had alleged that over the five income-tax years since 1954-55 certain employees of Capel's had their wages made up to a round sum by payments from petty cash. These additional payments were not shown on their P.A.Y.E. tax return cards, with the result that the employees concerned had not paid tax on them.
For the Crown, Mr. James Ross said that these earnings amounted to £5,381, on which the employees concerned
should have paid tax of £1,153. The petty cash book, said Mr. Ross, was one which normally was not seen by Inland Revenue authorities and the alleged discrepancies came to light when the authorities, "as luck would have it.picked on Capers Transport for a spot check.
Mr. Fletcher, giving evidence, said that he had never had any interest in, or anything to do with, book-keeping or accounts. During 1938, when Capel's Transport went into liquidation, he thought he could make a go of it, borrowed the money and bought the business. Now he had over 80 lorries. working on contracts for Government departments, nationalized industries and other well-known concerns.
Mr. Fletcher said that his books were
regularly audited. He left the bookkeeping entirely to the office staff.
FUEL TAX REDUCTION SOUGHT
TAXATION of industrial and domestic fuel oil is proposed in a new "immediate policy" for fuel and power, which the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party published last week. The policy suggests a lid. a gallon tax, the revenue from which could he used to reduce the fuel tax levied on road transport.