Elliot cleared of overload
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• Bridgend haulier James Elliot, who trades as JB Elliot Transport, has been cleared of over loading the three compensating trailer axles of a 38-tonne artic by Abingdon Magistrates. Oxfordshire trading standards officer Julie Capon said that when the vehicle was checked on a dynamic axle weighbridge, the weight of the three axles exceeded the permitted 22,500kg by 1,400kg, an overload of some 6.2%.
Questioned by Jonathan Lawton, defending, Capon agreed Elliot conceded that no adjustment had been made to the recorded weights for the tolerances for dynamic weighing. Elliot said he had weighed the vehicle at the point of loading at Kingsley Alton, when the train weight was 38,020kg. Lawton pointed out that the code for weighbridges required enforcement officers to assess weights in the light of the laiddown tolerances of plus or minus 150kg per axle. He argued that any defendant was entitled to the benefit of favourable evidence. Elliot was entitled to the statutory defence as the excess weight did not exceed 5% at the time of loading and nothing had been added to the load since.
The magistrates directed that Elliot's defence costs be met out of public funds.