Funeral carriage requires HGV licence
A lorry adapted for carrying two black horses and a gold-trimmed funeral carriage around the country does require an HGV operator's licence, according to the High Court.
The issue had been causing some legal confusion, but two senior judges made the law dead certain.
North Avon magistrates had cleared carriage owner John Clayton, of Headlands Farm, Gayton, Northamptonshire, of committing an offence by not obtaining a licence.
The magistrates concluded that the lorry did not need one and was exempt under HGV regulations because it was being "used for funerals".
But Lord Justice Sullivan and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, sitting at London's High Court, said in a decision revealed today that the magistrates had given too wide an interpretation to the rules.
Mr Clayton had been heading to a funeral in Bristol when stopped on the A46, near Tormarton, South Gloucestershire, in October 2008.
The Vehicle Operator Services Agency (Vosa) appealed to the High Court against the magistrates' decision to acquit, made in February last year.
Vosa lawyers argued that, although the horse-drawn carriage was "used for funerals", the lorry carrying the carriage to funerals was not and could not therefore be exempt.
The High Court judges agreed, but decided to take no further action against Mr Clayton, whose case had been used to clarify the law.
Mr Clayton said he had received conflicting advice over the years about whether or not he needed an operator's licence.
Email to a friend
Print this page- BREAKING NEWS: Man dies following motorway smash on Northamptonshire border
- BREAKING NEWS: Police inundated with hundreds of complaints over snowball fights
- BREAKING NEWS: Police name man killed in crash on motorway in Northamptonshire
- Student flats planned for Northampton town centre revealed
- Neighbours raise concern about bid to build new house three inches from their home
- BREAKING NEWS: Fishmarket art gallery offered new home
- Student flats planned for Northampton town centre revealed
- New manager of Northampton’s Grosvenor Centre says ‘This is the beginning of a new era’
- BREAKING NEWS: Police inundated with hundreds of complaints over snowball fights
- Northamptonshire MP leads bid against wind farm subsidies
- Exclusive: Saints voluntarily move key Heineken Cup match to Milton Keynes
- Ashton determined to end Saints career on a high
- West Northamptonshire Development Corporation in bid to purchase site of former power station
- Lifeguard Lane not looking to save Bloy
- Duston woman makes it to Masterchef finals
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Northampton
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -6 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
