Brake failure blamed for runaway tanker
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A TRANSPORT company was maintain a tanker which ran out its brakes failed.
Southdown Transport Ltd, of Pound Lane, Thatcham, near Newbury, had given the tanker a 12,000-mile major service three days before it ran out of control down a hill into Farnham town centre earlier this year, a court heard.
David Rae, for tanker owner Ultramar Petroleum, told magistrates that despite the service, it was possible to turn the tanker's front wheels by hand with the brakes on.
He said the service record showed that the brakes had been adjusted. Yet the slack adjuster was covered with grime and grease and had obviously not been touched during the service — and probably not during the previous service. Ultramar's only fault was to trust the transport company, he said.
Police sergeant Tony Randall said Department of the Environment tests showed the brakes were incapable of being operated within the legal limit.
Magistrates at Farnham gave tanker driver Robert Kelly, 33, of Kersey Crescent, Newbury, a conditional discharge after he admitted driving a vehicle with defective brakes, while Ultramar was fined a maximum E100 for allowing him to drive the vehicle in that condition.