Court told of firm's overload precautions
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R A Evason Haulage of Barton he Clay Bedfordshire
• After hearing of precautions to avoid overloading taken by R A Evason Haulage Ltd, of Barton Le Clay, Bedfordshire, Bexley, Kent, magistrates gave the company an absolute discharge when it pleaded guilty to using an overloaded lorry.
The company had been convicted previously at the same court of an almost identical offence at the same location, and fined £400.
In both cases the prosecutions followed a check by London Borough of Bexley Consumer Affairs inspectors on copies of weighbridge tickets retained at Unimills, Erith. This case followed a check in March which found a ticket showing a gross weight of 39,900kg for a 38-tonne Scania and tri-axle trailer.
Harry Shrimpton, defending, said in mitigation that the defendant specialised in hauling rape seed from farms to the crushing plant at Erith. All drivers were aware that weighings at Erith were frequently checked by the London Borough of Bexley, so any overloading could have serious consequences.
All drivers were instructed to use their Weylode when loading at farms. This enabled them to 'weigh" their loads before leaving the farm, said Shrimpton.
In evidence Jim Wilkie, of Weylode, said concealed and unsuspected damage to the three-year-old Weylode removed from the lorry concerned could have accounted for the driver overloading his lorry.
Evason's records showed that its precautions meant some 2,000 loads which had been hauled to the same weighbridge were within the load limit.
Several possible weighbridges for checking loads had closed in the past few years; of those remaining, some were too small, the court was told. Very few farms had weighing facilities and Weylodes had proved the most effective way of preventing overloading.
There was no fmancial benefit to drivers in overloading, and the added revenue from overloading for the company was very small.
The driver had been interviewed about the overload and warned that it was a sacking offence. It seemed likely, however, that the driver had been misled by undetected damage to the Weylode instrument after relying on it for three years of satisfactory service, the court was told.
Announcing the verdict, the chairman of the magistrates commented that he was pleased that witnesses had actually attended court to explain the full circumstances to the Bench. Costs of £20 towards the cost of bringing the case would be payable.
• Jim Wilkie commented after the case: This does not mean a Weylode user can get away with overloading. My impression is that the factors that counted with the magistrates were that Evasons were tackling the overloading problem before the prosecution.
"Evidence was produced that these measures were successful and that the offence was an isolated one. No prosecution was made against the actual driver, presumably because of the difficulty of proving who actually drove the lorry to the weighbridge."