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Tipper driver fined for insecure load despite a sealed tailgate
Page 7
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SHEFFIELD OWNER-DRIVER Shaun Hughes is questioning the transport knowledge of some judges after a magistrate decided that stones had fallen out of his tipper and struck a car — even though the tipper has a pneumatic tailgate system which seals when the back doors are closed.
Hughes was astonished when a Worksop court ruled last week that stones had fallen out of his tipper during a journey in March, damaging the windscreen and headlights of a car that was fol lowing behind him. Hughes, who drives his eight-legger for an aggregates company, explains that the tipper's tailgate closes automatically and once shut it is fully sealed so nothing can escape.
A claim was made by the motorist in June: Hughes was charged with driving with an insecure load and failing to stop at the scene of the accident. He was told to pay £650 in fines and costs "I was empty at the time of the alleged incident but the judge wasn't interested, saying there could have been two or three stones left in the vehicle after I'd tipped." says Hughes.
"But once the doors close it's fully sealed."
The motorist said he had flashed his lights to alert Hughes about the damage; Hughes says he has a reversing camera in the truck which he uses as a 'third mirror' so he would have seen this.
"The whole thing has been very frustrating and unfair," says Hughes. "My faith in the judicial system is now non-existent."