New row ove
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A trading standards chief has dismissed criticism of the accuracy of a dynamic axle weighbridge which gave two gross weight readings for the same truck and load which differed by 830kg.
The truck's owner is furious that he was told to leave part of his load before being allowed back on the road. Bob Chmiewliski says he had to sleep overnight in the vehicle outside the Department of Transport weighbridge pound at Abingdon, Oxon before being re-weighed with his full consignment and being permitted to go.
He maintains that an on-board weigher on his truck consistently showed a GCW of 38.1 tonnes.
In a letter to Chmiewliski, Oxfordshire's trading standards road transport chief Ian Marriott says the divergence between the readings in the morning and the evening before "raises a question as to the reliance that can be placed on the first weighing." However, he blames the train overload on the fact that the driver of the truck did not have the third lifting axle on his three-axle Scania tractive unit fully down on the first weigh. "This would cause the tractor unit to be very susceptible to pitching under acceleration or braking," he says. "Acceleration could cause weight transfer onto axle three during the weighing process, so causing the train weight error."
Marriott says his department will not be taking further action. He has also promised to investigate allegations about rudeness and lack of help from trading standards officers made by Chrniewliski.
Chmiewliski says that his only truck, a Scania 143, was pulled in for a routine check on the A34 on Tuesday evening last week. His driver, Andy Cox, had loaded it with timber.
Chmiewliski, owner of RPC Transport in Taunton, says he has fitted a £5,000 P&M Electronics automatic on-board