Avoiding points
Page 47
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I operate several tipper lorries which spend a lot of time on muckaway work and going to land-fill tips. The underside of the vehicles gets very dirty.
One of the trucks was pulled into a roadside check and a policeman said the load-sensing valve was stuck. The vehicle got a prohibition and both the driver and I are being prosecuted for using the vehicle with defective brakes.
The valve was affected by dirt from the road or a site and the matter was unknown to the driver and myself. Will we get any points on our driving licences?
A Unless you dispute that
the load sensor was seized you have little option but to plead guilty to the charge.
You should put forward what mitigation there is about the defect to try and keep the fine to a minimum. Explain to the court what a load-sensing valve is, what it does and where it is located on the vehicle. Say how the valve came to have dirt on it; that the brakes still worked; and, if the vehicle had recently been inspected or had its annual test, use that documentation to show the vehicle's maintenance had not been neglected.
The charge is under Section 41A of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and a conviction carries discretionary disqualification and compulsory licence endorsement. However, Section 48 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 provides that these must not be ordered if a person "proves that he did not know, and had no reasonable cause to suspect, that the facts of the case were such that the offence would be committed".
Both you and the driver will have to give evidence you were not aware of the defect and, because the valve is not readily visible, it could not be seen in a normal check.
Draw the court's attention to Section 48 and say that neither of you were aware of the defect and had no reason to believe it existed.