Discharged on brakes
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Haulier William Plank of Denny, near Falkirk, was given an absolute discharge for a brake offence after Penrith magistrates heard a company driver had failed to report that he had wound off the brakes on the rear axle of a triaxle trailer.
Plank, trading as William Plank & Sons, had pleaded guilty to using the trailer when its brakes had not been maintained in good and efficient working order.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Michael Fisher said that an artic had been stopped in a check at Harker on the A74. A vehicle examiner found five defects which made the rear-axle brakes totally inoperative.
Defending, Andrew Woolfall said it was an old trailer without a load sensing valve, and the rear axle was prone to locking. The artic had been taken from Scotland to Leeds by driver Ray Gray, who was flagged down in Leeds by a motorist because smoke was seen to be billowing from the rear axle brakes.
Gray backed off the brakes so they were not working on that axle. However, he did not report the incident, and when another driver took the vehicle back to Scotland he was unaware of the condition of the trailer brakes.
Gray told the court that he accepted he should have reported what had hap pened before carrying on.
Plank said that when he went down to the check site all he had to do was tighten the adjusters to get the prohibition lifted.
Woolfall pointed out that Plank had been totally unaware of the condition of the trailer brakes and had no reason to suspect that there might have been a problem with them.
The magistrates decided there were special reasons for not endorsing Plank's driving licence; they ordered him to pay £55 costs.