Six-wheelers come off best in new weight blitz by.„..„
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Action against overloaded vehicles under the newly implemented regulations (CM January 28) started on Monday and-I was present at a roadside check near Guildford on that day when DoE examiners placed the first new prohibition orders — GV160s — on goods vehicles. They will be followed by DOE prosecutions.
Trucks were checked visually by DoE men on the A3 London to Portsmouth road and any selected "victims" were flagged down by a policeman. Each vehicle was then directed to a nearby weighbridge where it was check-weighed against its plate: In just over two hours some 19 vehicles were checked, three of which were served with GV160 prohibition orders. (These had lobe served on rejoining the public road, since the weighbridge was not on the road.) Under the new law the vehicle may not be moved until it has been unloaded down to the correct plated weight. On Monday the three prohibited vehicles were escorted by a DoE man to a large layby near at hand where they had to stay until they complied with the law.
The driver of the first vehicle to be prohibited had come that morning from Banbury where he had taken on the load of a six-wheeler which had broken down; he was on his way to the docks. Coming as he did from Melton Mowbray he found it very difficult to get local help in Surrey and it was two hours before another vehicle came to break down his load. His vehicle, a Dodge, was 1 ton 1 cwt over on the gvw and 18cwt over the rear axle.
Axle problems
It is significant, I think, that out of the 19 vehicles only three were overladen on total gross weight but seven were over their permitted axle limits. The vehicle most prone to this fault is, of course, the 16-ton-gvw four-wheeler and this proved to be the case on Monday. The second of the vehicles prohibited was a Ford 16-ton four-wheeler which was 1 ton lcwt over on the front axle — but 6cwt below its maximum gvw. This vehicle had a load of paper on pallets and, as the driver, said: "How would you load them other than starting from the headboard?" This is an almost insoluble problem with the present day 6and 10-ton axle split of the 16-tonner. The only obvious, answers would be to have smaller pallets or to have a movable bulkhead.
Double-weighing for artics
Six-wheelers generally fared much better as their axle plating allows some leeway. The artie units did well except for the last man of the day, with a meticulously turned out Ford 28-ton-gvw outfit run on own-account by a nationally known company. This vehicle drove in looking taut and sounding very healthy and I privately thought "this one's OK" but in fact when weighed it was 2 tons 15cwt over the gcw limit.
Artics were double-weighed coupled, the tractive unit complete and bogie complete. The weighbridge was a little higher than the surrounding ground, being approached by a slight ramp on both sides — so any effect of the double-weighing almost certainly erred in favour of the operator. The Ford weighed in at 15 tons 3cwt for the tractive unit against a plated weight of 15 tons and the bogie weighed 15 tons 18cwt against a plated 16 tons. This vehicle was better off than the others in terms of off-loading as a 32-ton tractive unit could quite legally have picked up the semi-trailer and completed the delivery without the need to break the load down.
I was impressed by the pleasant way in which the DoE men tackled what was a difficult task. They went to some lengths to
explain to drivers what the infringements were and to help the prohibited drivers get assistance. Although at times a queue of three or four vehicles formed at the weighbridge no unprohibited vehicle was held up for long before being sent on its way.