Discharged after load convictions
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cher have been convicted of overloading a 38tonne artic—though magistrates accepted there was nothing the men could have done to prevent this.
Brown and Fletcher were given absolute discharges after each pleading not guilty at Barnsley magistrates to exceeding the permitted train weight of the six-axled vehicle carrying textiles in a sealed container from Felixstowe to Manchester.
Traffic examiner Michael the container was sealed and that none of the axle weights had been exceeded.
Backhouse said the consignment note giving the load's net weight as 17,000kg was confirmed by a subsequent check of unit and trailer plus container which showed that they had a tare weight of I6,940kg.
The load, therefore, should have been well within the capacity of the vehicle.
Backhouse said Brown had nothing to gain by overloading. The plating certificate showed a design weight of 40 tonnes and the driver had said that he had not noticed anything wrong with the way that the vehicle handled.
Backhouse argued that Brown and Fletcher were entitled to the defence that the vehicle was correct when loaded, when nothing had been added to the load and when the excess was not more than 5%.
But in convicting the two men, the magistrates were not satisfied that the vehicle was correct at the time of loading and ordered Brown and Fletcher to each pay £125 costs towards the costs of the prosecution.