Gross and axle overloads cost £1,330
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• A gross and axle overload cost Manchester
based tipper operator R&M Developments £1,330 in fines and costs when it appeared before Trafford magistrates, Greater Manchester.
The vehicle's driver, Benedict Gallagher, was fined £200 and ordered to pay 1:40 prosecution costs.
Prosecuting, Beverley Dunn said that in April, a vehicle currying rubble belonging to the 14-vehicle company was checkweighed at the premises of Shell Chemicals UK at Carrington. The first axle was found to weigh 7,050kg, an overload of 2,480kg (53.9%). The gross weight was 24,860kg, an excess of 1,880kg above the vehicle's permitted gross weight-8.2%.
For the company, Sefton Kwasnik said it has been in business for 14 years and there were no previous convictions against the company or any of its drivers.
The difference between the weight that the vehicle was taxed at and the manufacturer's specification, from a safety point of view, would have reduced the axle overload to a miniscule level, said Kwasnik.