First day with 8-wheel tipper: overloaded
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1111 Leyland magistrates fined lorry driver John Davis £75 for an overloading offence, but decided to give his employer, Walter Carefoot & Sons Ltd, an absolute discharge.
The magistrates were told that when Davis's eight-wheel tipper was stopped in a weight check it was found that the two rear compensating axles were overloaded by 1,520kg.
Defending, John Backhouse said that the company had written to the prosecution pointing out that all its drivers were in receipt of standing instructions which emphasised the seriousness of overloading and that it was the driver's responsibility to avoid such offences.
In addition, Davis had been given handwritten instructions by a director, said .Backhouse, and three loads had initially been checked from the quarry from which Davis had loaded to ensure that the axle weights were within the permitted weights. Carefoot had consistently refused work from sites where there were inadequate weighing facilities, said Backhouse. It had changed the type of vehicle operated, to take advantage of increased front-axle weights. It had also equipped its vehicles with on-board weighing devices, now that such devices were accurate for use with tipping vehicles.
The date of the offence was the first day that Davis had driven an eight-wheeler. He had previously driven flat vehicles, and the company had given him small tipping vehicles to drive for a day or so on joining the firm in order to give him experience of tipping work.
On arrival at the quarry, Davis had told the manager that he was a novice and he had asked that his vehicle be loaded accurately. The weighbridge had been congested, and he had felt that as his gross weight was within that permitted, his axles would be alright.