Thief refused licence
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• A West Yorkshire haulier who served a prison sentence for stealing a lorry in 1980 has been refused an Operator's Licence.
Pontefract-based Michael O'Hara had applied to North Eastern Licensing Authority Frederick Whalley for the renewal of his 10-vehicle national licence. O'Hara had a series of convictions for the unauthorised use of vehicles, using vehicles without excise licences operating uncalibrated tachographs, having an insecure load; overloading a vehicle, assaulting a police officer, drink/driving, dangerous driving, and being in charge of a dangerous dog.
Questioned by Whalley, O'Hara said most of the offences occured after he won a contract at Scarborough. He had applied for interim authority to operate extra vehicles, and had put them on the road assuming that it would come through quickly. He admitted he had failed to declare he had served nine months in prison for stealing a lorry in 1980, and agreed that it looked like a lot of offences, but claimed that the courts did not always play fair. He had denied assaulting a police officer and drink/driving, but when his appeal was heard at the Crown Court, the prosecution produced new witnesses out of the blue and his barrister would not ask for an adjournment, he said.
Evidence was given by a Department of Transport vehicle examiner that O'Hara had appeared at a public inquiry in May 1989 on maintenance grounds. A subsequent fleet in spection resulted in a prohibition on one of his vehicles for numerous defects. O'Hara said the vehicle had been prepared by a commercial garage which handled his maintenance. He had been let down, and the fitter who had done the work had been sacked by the garage following the prohibition.
For O'Hara, Gary Hodgson said that there was a pending case at York Crown Court in which O'Hara and a B T Clarke were accused of allegedly making a false declaration to obtain an Operator's Licence by deception.
He said steps had been taken to rectify the maintenance situation and O'Hara had been honest in notifying the LA of the pending prosecutions when he appeared at the 1989 public inquiry.
Refusing to renew the licence, Whalley said that he was not satisfied about the maintenance arrangements. It appeared that O'Hara was prepared to disregard the law, and he was not satisfied with his assurances that he would be more diligent in the future.