Admin victims avoid penalty
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• A company and driver, fined for a gross overload on the tractor unit of a 38-tonne artic, escaped punishment for overloading the second axle because they were victims of an administrative error.
Oswestry-based Penton's Haulage & Cold Storage and the driver, Barry Seddon, admitted the offences at Leyland Magistrates' Court.
VI senior traffic examiner Keith Smith said that a weighbridge check had found that the permitted gross weight of the tractor unit had been exceeded by 2,370kg, or 13.94%, and the permitted second axle weight by 1,900kg (18.09%).
When director Andrew Penton was interviewed, he said that the night staff had been advised that the semi-trailer required a threeaxled tractor unit but, due to some confusion, a two-axled tractor was used.
Jonathan Lawton, defending, said that it had been a simple administrative error made in the traffic office for which the company was not responsible.
After the High
Court's comments in the case
of Travel Gas (Midlands), the decision to prosecute on both offences might be considered excessive, said Lawton.
The magistrates fined the company £1,000 and Seddon £200 for the gross overload with no separate penalty for the second axle overload. They ordered both company and driver to pay £55 towards prosecution costs.