1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148 
Appeal victory
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Cardiff haulier who was fined for having an insecure and dangerous load has won the battle to clear his name. Paul Townsend, owner of Paul Townsend Transport, is now urging other operators not to be frightened of the authorities and to challenge decisions made against them.
Townsend was stopped last year by a policeman who claimed that his load of two aluminium ingots could become insecure and issued a fixed penalty of £60 with three penalty points.
He was then taken to the magistrates courts, but after waiting there for hours he was told that he had been found guilty in his absence. He later returned to the court and was fined £750. However, Townsend appealed to the Crown Court where he was given an absolute discharge.
"Everyone said that I should accept the fine," he says. "However, it wasn't the money but the principle of the thing. I knew that my load was secured carefully and it was just his word against my professional opinion. Even after the policeman had fined me for having a dangerous load he didn't stop me going back onto the motorway."