Sketchley wheel loss discharge
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• Sketchley Services and driver Kenneth Gemmell won absolute discharges after pleading guilty to using a dangerous vehicle following a wheel loss incident.
Leigh magistrates heard that the outer rear nearside wheel of a two-axled rigid had come off on the East Lancashire Road, crossing the carriageway and causing a collision.
PC Graham Robinson said that all eight wheelnuts had come off the hub. There did not appear to be any defect in either the wheelnuts or the studs.
Gemmell said he had carried out a visual inspection before setting off. He had driven to the Wirral and was on his way back to the company's Manchester depot when the accident happened. Fleet engineer Barry Rowan said the vehicle concerned was maintained at the company's main depot at Hinckley. The wheelnuts were checked at the recommended intervals with a torque wrench set at the manufacturer's recommendation of 610Nm (4501b/ft).
The vehicle had been inspected the previous weekend, when it was noted that the tyre on a wheel needed recutting. A tyre contractor came in on the Tuesday and recut it and he recommended that the wheelnuts should be checked after 150 miles. In this case the vehicle had not travelled 150 miles before the wheel came off.
Thomas Graham, an engineer employed by Stockport-based National Tyres & Autocare, said the fact that there was no defect in the wheelnuts and studs in this case showed that the wheelnuts had spun off quickly. They would come off quicker as they were right-hand threaded on a left-hand wheel. Despite that, it was still the European recommendation that right-hand threaded nuts and studs be used on the left-hand wheels.
Magistrates ordered Sketchley and Gemtnell to pay £20 each costs.