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DoE's first electronic weighbridge operational
Page 31
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• Stricter enforcement of the axle-weight regulations was made easier and quicker on Monday when the DoE's first electronic recording weighbridge went into operation at Folkestone.
Strategically placed by the entrance to the Customs shed, the 58S Avery Axle Weigher — which costs between £4000 and £5000 including installation — was tested on Friday. Its big advantage is that the load cell, under the weighing plate, flashes axle-weights straight to the analogue generator which translates the impulse into figures as a lorry is driven across at about 3 mph. Another machine can be added to give a printout of the recording.
Mr Derek Brunning, south-eastern area service supervisor for Avery, told CM: "The weighbridge took our technicans three to four months to develop. Although it is not mobile as such, the instrumentation is. So if you installed, say, six different load cells, you can transfer a set of equipment from one to another. You just plug in."
The Folkestone test showed that the concrete turning area which provides the approach for vehicles to the weighing plate needs widening.
However, the weighbridge is only part of the South Eastern traffic area's tightening up programme — its vehicle examiner strength will increase by 70 per cent, next month. Mr Charles Holt, clerk to the South Eastern LA, said: "The main offences we get are overloading, drivers' hours and maintenance.
"At the moment we just haven't the men to give these problems all the time we would like. Prosecutions for the first half of this year are 25 per cent down on the same period in 1972", said Mr Holt.
"But with the new men, I will increase the number of vehicle examiners in Dover from one to three and will have a man in Folkestone — something I haven't had before."
And he added: "We will be putting more emphasis on the examination of British vehicles."