Truck speeds past VI official
Page 9
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A firm was fined £430 on seven charges of failing to maintain a speed limiter last week after a truck overtook a Vehicle Inspectorate official on the motorway at up to 80mph.
The official took the registration number of the 38-tonner and the name of the firm and started an investigation. As a result, said Dominic Green for the prosecution, it was discovered that the speed limiter had not been maintained.
All Metal Recovery of Smethwick, West Midlands, admitted the offences to Solihull magistrates and was ordered to pay £500 including costs.
Green said the VI official was driving along the M42 near Bromsgrove in February when the truck overtook him at up to 80mph. The truck should have been limited to 56mph.
In a letter to the court the firm said it had not been aware of the speed limiter's condition. "A maintenance fitter has been dismissed and a reduction was made in long-distance journeys while a new policy was introduced," it added, stressing that this was the first prosecution of its kind involving the company.
Driver Robert Wood from Darlaston, West Midlands was tined £200 with £70 costs after admitting seven charges of not having a properly maintained speed limiter.