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Viystery cause yf lorry tip
N UNEXPLAINED phenomion, which causes lorries to ,ed their loads for no parent reason, should not suit in owners being concted of using a vehicle with t unsecured or dangerous ad. This was the verdict ached by three High Court dges last week.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Idgery, sitting in the Queen's mch Divisional Court with ✓ Justice Milmo and Mr Jus;e Wien, upheld an acquittal December 17 last year by agistrates sitting at Neath, famorganshire, of Western .itish Road Services Ltd.
The judges dismissed a procution appeal against the agistrates' acquittal.
Western British Road Serces had been charged with :ing an articulated lorry at eath Abbey on May 28 last with a load secured in a ay that danger was likely to caused by the load falling am the vehicle.
The lorry was carrying a 17i • load of sheet steel coils cm Ebbw Vale steel works, ✓ Justice Milmo said, giving dgment.
As the lorry went round a ,undabout at 15mph, the ailer tipped and the three eel coils fell off into the road. The magistrates heard expert ridence that hundreds of ousands of tons of sheet eel were carried daily by the me method of loading them to soft-wood, flat trailers here their own weight held them in place.
The accident was caused by a little-known phenomenon, first studied at Sheffield University two years ago, Mr Justice Milmo said. It was not fully understood, but it seemed that a weakness in couplings caused the trailer to tip when sufficient momentum built up centrifugal force.
The expert evidence, accepted by the magistrates, showed that three per cent of cases of overturned articulated lorries were attributable to this phenomenon, said the judge. It would have been more dangerous if the load had been chained down because then the lorry would have overturned.
Although the prosecution argued that the offence was absolute, Mr Justice Milmo said the magistrates were entitled to find that there was no likelihood in the present case of the load falling off or shifting on the trailer.
Agreeing, Lord Widgery said: "In a split second before this incident, anyone passing judgment on the means by which this load was secured would have said they were sufficient. This was not a simple case in which a lorry shed its load because of a defect in the position of the load or the way in which it was secured. Unusual and unexpected forces took charge of the vehicle."
The prosecution were ordered to pay Western British Road Services' legal costs.