Underrun plea
Page 26
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In March last year my nephew was killed tragically in an accident with a fully laden 38-tonne truck. The exact cause of the accident will never be known, but the end result was that he fell from his motorcycle under the trailer wheels and was killed instantly
Some months after the accident and the resulting inquest, the police successfully prosecuted the owners of the truck involved for permitting it to be used on the highway in an illegal state.
Specifically, the trailer was not fitted with side under-run protection bars and the truck was also marginally over the legal maximum length. In his summing-up the coroner had emphasised the point concerning the lack of side protection and his belief that had the trailer been correctly equipped the outcome of the accident might have been very different and a life might have been saved.
The family have no wish to prolong the trauma resulting from the untimely death of a young man with a promising life ahead of him. However, we do wish to bring an issue to the notice of the haulage industry In the course of travelling around the country we now pay particular attention to trucks with respect to underrun protection.
We see many trucks that are unequipped. We know that the Construction and Use Regulations governing the fitment are complex, with caveats and possible waivers; but one is led to suspect that there may well be instances where side bars could be fitted even though they are perhaps not legally essential. In such cases a small financial saving may be being put ahead of risk to human life.
May I therefore, ask all operators to review their own vehicles, not just to comply with the law but also to ensure that all possible steps are taken to safeguard other road users.
If, as a result, actions are taken that assist in the saving of just one life, 1 will feel that some positive good has come from our loss. David Boulton Peterborough,
Cambs.
Carrying on
The 23 December edition of Commercial Motor stated that two companies in the fire engine business have announced closures, one of them being Penman Engineering.
In fact the company has never been in this business. although you correctly said that we are discontinuing our operation in Andover, which was primarily established to manufacture cash-in-transit vehicles. In early January we will be integrating this business with our operation here in Diunfries.
However, we plan to transfer the skills necessary for the design and manufacture of these specialist vehicles. Our core business in BT vehicles, fire training PODS, cabs, tow tractors and armoured Land Rovers is unaffected by the move.
E Hunter
Managing director, Penman Engineering Dumfries.