Unlicensed Cutter waits
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• Mark Cutter, of Greenacre Farm, Peterston, St Brides, Glamorgan will have to wait to see what disciplinary action South Wales Licensing Authority John Mervyn Pugh will take against his licence.
Disciplinary proceedings were adjourned by the LA pending the outcome of a prosecution against Cutter for using a vehicle while his licence was suspended.
Traffic examiner Robert Frampton said that he had seen Cutter driving his vehicle into a farm on two days in April. The vehicle was loaded with sand on one occasion and pallets on another, he said. Cutter had been reported to the local magistrates for prosecution for the unauthorised use of the vehicle.
During evidence, Cutter said that on the day in question the vehicle had probably been carrying sugar beet, as he did not use sand in his business. He had been driving between his two farms in the Vale of Glamorgan, a journey of less than half a mile.
For Cutter, Jonathan Price argued that under the provisions of the 1968 Transport Act, an Operator's Licence was not needed to drive vehicles from one private premises to another, provided the mileage did not exceed six miles in any week.
Mervyn Pugh said that it was an intriguing case. Although he did not disbelieve the traffic examiner, on the balance of probabilities he had to come down on the side of Cutter. Consequently, he would adjourn the proceedings until such time as the magistrates made their decision.