Hired reefer van was heavier than usual
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• The driver of a reefer van was given an absolute discharge for a second axle overoad by Ormskirk magistrates but his employer was fined £200.
Blackpool-based RP Winder (Wholesale Meat) and driver Gerald Ratcliffe had both pleaded guilty to the offence.
The court heard that when the vehicle concerned was stopped in a weight check the second axle was found to be overloaded by 10.88%.
Defending, John Backhouse said Ratcliffe had taken no part in assembling the load of multiple shop deliveries of meat. He would have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to calculate the load weight, given the large number of small items on the bundle of notes he was handed.
The company had hired a small refrigerated van, said Backhouse. It was told later by police that the fridge unit was quite a bit heavier than those on its own similar vehicles, so that assembling the normal load would account for the second axle overload.
The problem was not realised by the temporary employee who had assembled the loads that day because the usual man was on holiday, Backhouse added.
Maintaining that neither company nor driver were to blame, Backhouse said they simply had not appreciated there could be a problem and it was not the driver's fault."
The magistrates ordered the company to pay £40 costs.