Cumbrian operator walks out on LA
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A WEST CUMBRIA operator has had his licence revoked and has been disqualified from obtaining another for the next two years.
But Mr Dennis Clemetson of 2 London Row, Blindcrake, did not wait for Mr John Hanlon's verdict at Cockermouth last week. In the middle of an allegation that a traffic examiner had "said he would get me off the road if it was the last thing he did," he walked out without explanation.
Under a licence issued in 1972 Mr Clemetson was authorised to operate two lorries and three trailers, but in July last year one of the lorries was suspended by Mr Hanlon because of the dangerous condition of some of its parts.
Senior traffic examiner Mr John H: Scott of Carlisle told Mr Hanlon, sitting as Northern LA, that on December 12 he had seen Mr Clemetson refuelling the suspended lorry at a Carlisle depot. Inquiries revealed that he had applied to the Scottish Authority for a licence for the suspended vehicle and this had been granted. In September this year Mr Clemetson had been fined £225 at Cockermouth on nine charges of unauthorised use of the lorry, and nine charges of failing to produce records.
Mr Clemetson claimed : "The examiner instructed the police to get some summonses against me. They stopped me about 19 times, but they could find nothing wrong. The examiner saw me one day and he seemed to lose his head and said he would get me off the road if it was the last thing he did."
Then Mr Clemetson walked out, followed by a court officer, and refused to return.
Mr Hanlon, who said Mr Clemetson's record as an operator •had been deplorable for a number of years, recalled that his original application in 1970 had been refused and an appeal was dismissed. The present licence was granted in 1972.
"Though I had grave doubts I felt it was appropriate to give him a chance," he said. "The position has quite clearly not improved and the conditions under which he has operated his business have been quite intolerable. For months on end the examiner tried to get in touch with him."
Mr Clemetson had gone to the Scottish LA with an application based on an operating centre which was clearly an accommodation address, said Mr Hanlon. "While my present inclination in disqualifying. him is to make the order an indefinite one, that could be unfair if he decided to comply with the law."