Video evidence rejected
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Neighbours pro duced video tapes in an attempt to prove that Christopher and Trevor Atkinson, trading as TO Atkinson & Sons, of Silsden, had broken environmental conditions on their 0-Oconee.
The Atkinsons appeared at a disciplinary inquiry before North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Brian Horner.
Traffic examiner Howard Mountain told the Deputy IC that the complainants' house backed on to the operating centre where the firm operated a small waste transfer station.
The Atkinsons' licence conditions banned them from running engines for more than five minutes unless a vehicle's crane was being used, and banned trucks from entering or leaving the site between 113:00-07:20hrs except in exceptional circumstances.
Mountain said he had not carried out any silent checks as they would have been obvious to the firm.
He agreed with Christopher Atkinson that one video, taken in daylight, appeared to show that the crane mechanism was being used. He also agreed that a video taken at night might not have shown the Atkinsons' vehicles.
Mountain added that the videos did suggest that breaches had occurred, and he had no reason to disbelieve them.
But he agreed with the Deputy IC that there was no real evidence that the conditions were being breached.
Atkinson said this was the fourth public inquiry the firm had been forced to attend, and Mountain confirmed that there was a long-running dispute with the complainants.
Adjourning the proceedings, Horner said the video evidence was worthless and there was no satisfactory evidence that the conditions had been breached. He directed that proper independent checks be carried out,