The High Court has ruled that a haulage company’s tractor unit and fifth-wheel trailer could be treated as one vehicle for motor tax purposes, and that attaching a trailer heavier than the weight covered by the licence could make that licence void.
President of the High Court Kearns delivered the opinion on 27 June 2014 in a consultative case stated by a District Court judge. The High Court answered questions of law; it did not convict Perennial Freight Limited. It said the company could be convicted on either of two charges alleging use of a vehicle without a licence, but left the weight evidence and any conviction to the District Court judge.
The charges arose from an observation at Ballygillane Little, Rosslare Harbour, on 15 March 2011. The tractor unit, registration 05C25202, was coupled to a curtain-sider trailer. The company had paid €2,145 for a licence covering a vehicle weighing 12,570kg, based on the tractor unit and a flatbed trailer used for weighing. Sergeant Peter Griffin estimated the combination he saw weighed 15,000kg to 16,000kg, but did not weigh it.
The prosecution argued that the heavier combination attracted a higher rate of duty, voided the existing licence and supported charges of using an unlicensed vehicle and causing another person to use one on which duty was unpaid. The company disputed that interpretation, arguing that the legislation did not require interchangeable trailers to be counted as part of the licensed vehicle.
The court held that the curtain-sider was not a “receptacle” under the 1960 amending legislation. It found, however, that the trailer was attached to and partly superimposed on the tractor unit, so the two came within the 1952 Act’s provision treating them as a single vehicle. The licence covered combinations up to a specified weight; changing to a heavier trailer could amount to an alteration that made the licence void.
The court rejected the section 2 charge, finding no suggestion or evidence that the vehicle’s purpose or use had changed. It accepted that the legislation could place a burden on the defendant to address the vehicle’s weight. The District Court judge must decide what weight to give Sergeant Griffin’s estimate and whether the evidence establishes the combination exceeded the licence limit. The High Court’s answers left those matters, and any decision on the two alternative no-licence charges, for that court.