Consignors are increasingly to blame for overloading, and leave drivers to take the rap, claimed a Newcastle attorney.
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Christopher Lee appeared before Newcastle-under-Lyme magistrates on behalf of Blairgowle owner-driver Bernard McLuskey. He said there was a growing trend for consignors to exceed the stated amounts given to hauliers. This left hauliers and drivers responsible for an offence of strict liability.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Max Breakwell said that when McLuskey's artic was stopped in a check at Dexey while carrying fish between Perth and Pool it was found to have exceeded the permitted train weight by 3,280kg (8.6%).
Lee said that McLuskey worked as a subcontractor for a French company, Transports Mesguen, which delivered fish between Lochinver and ['Orient. The consignment note showed a load weight of 18 tonnes and the unladen weight of the artic was 20 tonnes.
The load was collected by McLuskey's father on the Friday night. He did not take the CMR note at face value and checked the weights of the first and last boxes of fish calculating a rough weight of 18 tonnes. The nearest weighbridge was at Ullapool, 10 miles away. The design weight of the vehicle was 44 tonnes so the lead would not have affected
its handling characteristics.
McLuskey was forewarned of the check but chose not to avoid it, said Lee. He was shocked to find the truck was three tonnes overweight. There was no profit in carrying excess weight as he was paid by the unit load.
The only party to profit was the consignor, Petrel, which would receive an extra three tonnes of fish delivered to L'Orient for the same price. McLuskey no longer trusted Petrel's figures and checkweighed every load at IJIlapool.
Fining McLuskey £300 with 170 prosecution costs, the magistrates said that he had learned his lessen the hard way.