 One explanation of the decision would be that the appeal court ignored the word ‘vehicle’, and treated the pneumatic tires rule as if it applied to anything that moves on wheels (instead of applying to vehicles, which is what the legislation said). But the Lord Chief Justice did not explain his decision that way. He did not hold that, because Parliament aimed to protect roads from iron wheels, Burr should be convicted regardless of the meaning of the word ‘vehicle’. He held that the magistrates ought to have found that the chicken coop was a vehicle, ‘for the purposes’ of the Road Traffic Act. Presumably the magistrates, too, considered themselves to be giving effect to the language of the Act, rather than ignoring (in the interests of fairness) what Parliament had enacted.