All clear on wheel loss
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• Accusations that Lancasterbased haulier Jeremy Staveley of Staveley Transport used a vehicle with dangerous parts after two of its wheels came off on the motorway were dismissed when he appeared before Rotherham magistrates. Driver John Staveley, who pleaded guilty to a similar charge, was given an absolute discharge.
John Kavanagh, prosecuting, said that the vehicle concerned was being driven south on the M1 on 2 July when the two rear nearside wheels became detached. The wheels bounced down the carriageway, one bouncing on to the north side where a collision occurred.
Defending, Stephen Kirkbright said that in the case of Hart vs Rex the High Court had said that if an employee
was charged with an offence which he was ignorant about, such as a defect in the braking system which arose suddenly, it would be right to give him an absolute discharge, as he was blameless.
The wheels came off the vehicle because all the wheel studs had sheered off. There was no evidence that lack of maintenance was to blame.
The vehicle was inspected every six weeks or 6,000 miles, and had been inspected the day before the wheel loss incident. Tyres and wheelnuts had been changed and if the ndronie. nuts had not been properly tightened the wheels would have come off long before they did.
The police had stated that there was no indication of bad maintenance. This was a case of the "Lost Wheels Syndrome". After eight years of research conclusions had been reached that 4% of all wheel studs were loose; 80% of ' wheel losses were on the rear nearside, as those wheels went round more corners and were running on the kerb.
One of the problems was that the wheel studs were too small. They had not been changed since 1950, yet vehicles and loads had grown much larger.
John Staveley said he had checked over the vehicle before setting off on the morning of the incident. He did the same every morning, checking the wheels and studs. There were no studs missing and nothing, such as rust marks, to indicate they were loose. During the course of the journey nothing happened to suggest that there was anything wrong with the vehicle and he had driven about 100 miles before the incident occurred.