Acquitted on shed load
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• Radiett-based Retail Consolidation Services has been acquitted of permitting an agency driver to use a vehicle with an insecure load after a lorry shed pallets of lager on a roundabout.
The company denied the offence before Oxford magistrates.
The driver, John Stevens, said when he collected the pallets he was concerned at the height of the stacks. But he accepted the load, secured it with straps which were centre mounted and hooked under the edges of each pallet. He secured the solid sliding doors himself.
The accident happened when he was "cut up" on a roundabout by a motorist on his offside. He swerved violently to the left to avoid a collision, and then sharply right to avoid another car entering the roundabout. He missed both vehicles and was travelling slowly, but the load burst through the nearside rear door.