Case dismissed after DoE mistake
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• Although Christian Salveson Transport Ltd, Edinburgh, owned the vehicles concerned, the company held the 0 licence authorizing them and employed the drivers, summonses for breaches of the drivers' hours regulations had been issued against Christian Salveson (Grimsby) Ltd, Easton, Lines, which owned and operated cold stores.
.Grantham magistrates were told this last week when the DoE in the East Midland traffic area prosecuted the company on 21 charges concerning drivers' hours offences.
Mr T. H. Campbell Wardlaw, defending, raised a preliminary point of law pointing out the errors and submitting that if the court accepted this evidence it would have no alternative but to dismiss the summonses. Any substitution would provide a completely new defendant. So far as the re-issue of the summonses was concerned, all but four of them were now out of time.
An associate
Mr Daniel Stewart, a director of Christian Salveson Transport, was called to give evidence and confirmed that although the Grimsby company was an associate it had nothing to do with transport.
Mr R. Seely Whitby, prosecuting, then applied for permission to amend the summonses which Mr Campbell Wardlaw resisted. He submitted that the magistrates had no power to allow substitution of a new defendant.
After adjourning the magistrates returned to dismiss all the summonses.