Timber artic appeal succeeds
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• A firm whose articulated timber lorry toppled over when making a wide, left-hand turn near the Houses of Parliament, breaking a chain and spilling most of the timber load, on Friday won an appeal against conviction last May of an offence under the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations.
Three judges sitting in the Queen's Bench Divisional Court also allowed the appeal of the driver, Mr. A. J. Buttwell, of Knights Road, North Woolwich, the court quashing convictions in both cases.
Hollis Brothers Ltd., of Victoria Dock, London, E., had been fined £50 with £4 9s costs by Miss Jean Graham Hall, Bow Street stipendiary magistrate, after it was alleged that the firm "caused to be used on the road a motor vehicle for a purpose for which it was so unsuitable that danger was likely to be caused to other persons on the road". Mr. Buttwell had been fined £10 for using the vehicle on the road.
Lord Justice Winn, who sat with Mr. Justice Ashworth and Mr. Justice Cooke, said there was no allegation of excessive speed or any other improper driving. The top of the load was about 8 ft above the lorry platform, the timber stacked neatly and no suggestion was made of careless work in loading. But the magistrate seemed to think that as the load as stacked on the lorry caused the vehicle to turn over, this meant the lorry was unsuitable for carrying that load at the time it sustained this misfortune.
Lord Justice Winn said that that seemed to him logically wrong. To create the offence it had to be established that the vehicle itself, because of its construction and design, was unsuitable for the use to which it was being put. He said the vehicle was of a type commonly used by timber merchants and hauliers, had been used by its owners for that purpose for six years and there had been plainly no abnormal use on this occasion.
The court made an order for costs against the police.