Leigh charges dismissed
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• Charges of overloading a tanker, brought against Stockport-based Leigh Environmental and one of the company's drivers, have been dismissed by Mold Magistrates after evidence that only two minutes had been allowed for the load of liquid sludge to settle before the tanker was check weighed on a dynamic axle weigher.
The company and driver Peter Osbiston denied exceeding the permitted gross weight by 1,060kg and the permitted second axle weight by 890kg.
Traffic examiner John Evans said he had only let the tanker stand for two minutes before weighing because he was familiar with the load and he did not consider it to be fluid. He had made the driver transfer part of the load to another Leigh tanker.
Questioned by Jonathan Lawton, defending, Evans was unable to say how viscous the load was. He said that he understood that it was heavy fuel oil but he was unable to say what sort. He agreed that it was capable of being pumped through a 10cm (four-inch) pipe from one vehicle to another. He agreed that the Code of Practice stated that the tanker should have stood for at least 10 minutes.
Osbiston said that the load was a mixture of oily sludge which had been thinned by the addition of diesel fuel and water. He could feel the surge in the tank when he braked and went round corners.
Lawton said it was clear that the load was viscous and that its movement in the tank would create dynamic energy affecting the weight recorded. He referred the court to the appeal case of S J Burgh, in which a Crown Court judge had quashed fines imposed for overloading following expert evidence that insufficient time had been allowed for loads to settle before two milk tankers were weighed on a dynamic axle weighbridge. (CM 24-30 November 1988).
The magistrates directed that the defence costs be paid out of public funds.