Haulier fined over Morning Cloud
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FHE BREAKDOWN in the Tansport of the wreck of Mr fed Heath's ill-fated Mornng Cloud yacht cost both the iriver and his company a £20 The with £6.20 costs at Chi3hester magistrates' court.
Twin wheels came off the :railer carrying the boat on 427 at Bosham, near Chithester, during a journey Tom Henfield, Sussex, to Southampton.
Bakers Transport (Southimpton) Ltd, of Millbank Street. Southampton, and the Jriver, Mr George David Jack, yf Woodhouse Road, Woolston, Southampton, were Joth found guilty of using the /elide with the wheels in a Jangerous condition.
It was stated that nuts sheared off and the twin rear Nheels came off in the road.
Pleading not guilty. M r Jack said: "It is something I cannot explain. I can only assume it must have been due to metal fatigue or a crack on one of the studs which went and caused the others to go."
Mr Jack, who had a clean driving licence, told the magistrates that when he stopped by the roadside, suspecting something was wrong, one of the wheels overtook him.
He had checked the trailer when the boat was loaded at Henfield. Previously, the traiier was used to take an escalator to London.
Mr Jack did not agree that the bolts had not been properly tightened or that they had perhaps been over-tightened. Everything was in order as far as he knew until the incident at Bosham.
Mr Eric Baker, director of the company, maintained that no evidence of lack of maintenance had been produced. While the trailer was running along the road neither the company nor the driver believed there was anything wrong. The boat seemed to be fated.
The chairman, Mr H. A. Beeny, said that there was no implication that the company or its driver were negligent in their maintenance, but the mere fact that two wheels were in such a condition that they came off must mean that there was danger to other road users.
The magistrates agreed that there were special reasons for not endorsing Mr Jack's licence.