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No-show at public inquiry puts TC in 'a quandary'
Page 32
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A PUBLIC INQUIRY concerning a man caught with a trailer full of stolen steel has been adjourned because of doubt over whether he received the letter calling him in.
Scunthorpe-based Stuart Welch, trading as SW Freight, had been called before the North-Eastern Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney but failed to appear.
Senior traffic examiner Paul Watkins said that in April a vehicle examiner was called out by the police to examine a vehicle after Welch had been arrested for carrying a load of stolen steel. An immediate prohibition was imposed on the vehicle because of its condition. The police informed Watkins that Welch had been charged with theft but that no trial date had yet been set.
Replying to the TC, Watkins said it had been a full trailer so the amount of steel would have been considerable. It was possible that Welch had been kept in custody as it was a high-value load, but he presumed he had been bailed as that was the normal practice.
The TC said he was left in a quandary.The recordeddelivery call-up letter had been returned marked 'address inaccessible', and Welch's address had twice changed.
Without knowing whether Welch was in custody, the TC had no idea what was going on in his operation.
Adjourning the proceedings, the TC directed that call-up letters he sent to every known address notifying Welch of a new date for the public inquiry and to Welch's transport manager whose repute was also at stake.