Driver Cleared on Important Charge
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IIIDLEADING not guilty on behalf of a 1 driver accused before Seven oaks magistrates, Mr. Norman Irvin declared that the case was of vital importance to lorry drivers all over the country.
Archie Leonard Buckland, driver, of Cooklands Cottages, Five Oak Green, was summoned for causing a motor vehicle fb draw a trailer when he was unaccompanied by a mate. Mr. Irvin argued that an employed driver could never he charged with an offence of causing a vehicle to be used on the road, and had no control over the employment of the men on a vehicle.
Buckland had asked for a mate and had been told he would have to go without one. He was neither technically, legally nor morally-responsible.
The chairman, dismissing the case, said the Bench had been convinced by Mr. Irvin's argument.
Arnold and Nathan; Ltd., East Peckham, Kent, the driver's employers, who admitted permitting the lorry to be used to draw a trailer when the driver was unaccompanied by a mate, were fined £10.
Mr. H. Y. Anderson, representing the company, said that a director of the company had sent Buckland off without a mate, not realizing that he was breaking the law.