A van was stopped carrying a delivery of coal. The insurance was for social domestic and pleasure purposes only. The owner appealed a conviction for using it without insurance.
Held: ‘using’ when the description of the offence in connection includes alternatives of causing and permitting is to have a restricted meaning. There was not evidence that the defendant had been using the vehicle for the defendant’s purposes. ‘I do not see that it is possible to infer from the mere fact that someone is driving an owner’s van for business purposes that the driver is employed as the servant or agent of the owner. The driver may be self-employed; he may simply be a friend or a colleague who was driving the van with the owner’s permission. In the absence of any evidence as to the nature of the owner’s business, it is quite impossible to infer that the business purposes are those of the owner rather than those of the driver or of some other person for whom the driver is acting. ‘
Judges:
Lord Justice Rose And Mr Justice Sullivan
Citations:
Times 23-Apr-1998, [1998] EWHC Admin 363
Links:
Statutes:
Road Traffic Act 1988 143(1)(a)
Citing:
Distinguished – West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service v Lex Vehicle Leasing Ltd QBD 9-Feb-1995
It was alleged that the maximum permitted front axle weight of the vehicle in question was exceeded. The court was asked what were the circimstances defing a ‘user’ of a motor vehicle in prosecutions for use of the vehicle.
Held: ‘The . .
Cited – Carmichael and Sons Ltd v Cottle 1971
. .
Cited – Crawford v Haughton QBD 1972
The defendant appealed a conviction for using a vehicle, which had been adapted for stock car racing, without insurance. He did not give evidence, but he was present and he admitted that he was the owner of the vehicle.
Held: The court allowed . .
Cited – Windle v Dunning and Son Ltd 1968
The court considered the meaning of the word ‘use’ in road traffic legislation: ‘… In my judgment, as was said by the Lord Justice-General (Lord Clyde) in giving judgment in MacLeod v Penman, Hamilton v Blair and Meechan, Hawthorn v Knight , ‘The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Road Traffic
Updated: 27 May 2022; Ref: scu.138484