DVT falling load case is quashed by Crown Court
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• The conviction against Don Vale Transport, for using a vehicle and trailer with dangerous parts, following an incident in which a ninetonne hydraulic press fell from one of its vehicles, has been quashed at Sheffield Crown Court. In March, the company, of Old Denaby, near Doncaster, was fined 2500 and ordered to pay .2100 prosecution costs, by Rotherham magistrates (CM 29 March4 April).
Police constable Robert Hirst of the South Yorkshire Police accident investigation branch said the cross-members of the trailer were in an advanced state of corrosion.
Consultant engineer Ivan Ratcliffe said in his view the trailer's cross-members had not been bearing any of the weight until the machine toppled over. Even a brand new trailer would have exhibited the same sort of damage in such circumstances. He did not believe that under normal circumstances the trailer was likely to cause danger.
Quashing the conviction, and making a defendant's costs order, Judge Charlesworth said the he was impressed by the evidence given by the consultant engineer.
He could not come to any conclusion other than the load had moved, and that the damage to cross members was a result of the load shifting.