Tim Cobb goes on a weight check
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Mermaids with scales on the M5 patrol
TRADING STANDARDS officers are in the news just now. Their future if the metropolitan counties disappear has still to become clear, and they are in the forefront of the "over-five per cent" row about weighing tolerances.
The West Midlands County Council Consumer Services department's weights and measures inspectors are in the front line of this work, and my spending a morning with them at the Quinton dynamic axle weighbridge on a roundabout beneath the M5 in Birmingham underlined the importance of their task.
The motives for their weekly checks are simple: safety. An overloaded vehicle is a dangerous one; road wear and tear; and to preserve fair trading so that companies compete on equal terms. A driver carrying five per cent more than it should be might be putting some one else out of business, explained David Ravenscroft, one of the examiners.
To try to enforce these the division spends one day each week weighing possible overloads. While most operators would agree with the need for this service, many tend to get upset if they are the ones stopped.
"Once the first batch of vehicles are stopped and weighed, word soon gets round that we're in business," Mr Ravenscroft explained. "The CB warns other drivers of the possible stoppages ahead and advises them to take a different route."
The CB nick-names for the weighbridge inspectors vary. Dip officials are "wheel-tappers and shunters" because of the tapping and prodding that goes on during their tests. But the Weights and Measures people suffer another title, "mermaids," an innocent-enough sounding name that defies translation in a family magazine.
The inspectors' day starts at about 8am. A police car and motorcycle travel along the M5, looking for possible overloads.. When spotted, the vehicles are stopped and told to leave the motorway at the roundabout and join the queue for weighing.
Other vehicles are stopped and pulled over on the roundabout itself.
Two inspectors are stationed at the lay-by, taking names, addresses and preliminary details of the vehicles, including axle and gross vehicle weights. One inspector said some drivers are totally unaware of their vehicle weights. "I asked one driver if he knew his gvw and individual axle weights. He replied 'Yes. I have got them written down in my cab'. He then reeled off a list of figures that turned out to be his engine specifications."
The inspector walks slowly alongside of the weighbridge and asks the driver to keep level with him. If he goes too fast or slow the weight cannot be properly formulated and the process has to start over again.
The Department of Transport weighbridge made by Weighrite, operates once the vehicle passes over the bridge. The weight is registered on a calibrating machine and on a remote digital read-out placard for the driver's benefit. If the vehicle passes too quickly or slowly over the bridge, then the relevant figures will appear in red instead of black to signify that the reading might not be accurate.
When a lorry is clearly within its weight bracket but gets a red reading on one axle there is little need to re-check it. But if the lorry is on the border line, then a further check is done.
Physical checks follow, and if there is an overload, then a decision has to be taken on the extent of the overload and whether it is a gvw overload or an axle overload.
In view of the current controversy on five per cent overloads being tolerated, it was useful to hear what happens at Quinton.
The basic rule on overloads is that a five per cent margin is tolerated. After that some form of action has to be taken, either in the form of a verbal warning or by a prohibition which may end in a court appearance for the driver and operator and a fine of up to £1,000.
"Our rules are not hard and fast and each situation is looked at individually," Mr Ravenscroft said. "We tend to look more leniently at an axle overload, especially if its a matter of simply redistributing the load. We are not without heart," he said.
The drivers' reactions to the weight-checks was very mixed. Some said they were glad they had been stopped as they could gauge next time what sort of 'weight they were carrying. I got the feeling that they were saying 'this because I told them I was from CM and they were worried about their public image.
Other drivers were upset, not at the inspectors, but at the companies that had loaded their vehicles.
A typical example involved a driver with a load of bricks. He went off to the canteen for breakfast while his vehicle was loaded. When he came back he drove off happily enough until pulled over for weighing and was found to be overweight by a substantial amount.
"What annoys me so much is that I'll get the fine," he said. "The blokes who loaded the vehicle get off Scot-free."
One of the policeman working with the inspectors said that he felt great sympathy with this type of overload, but he added that the driver should be able to sense when his vehicle is overloaded.
"The response from brakes and the vehicle's general hand ling should tell the driver how near the limit he is," he explained. "And if he is unsure about it, he should go to the nearest weighbridge facility."
By 12.30prn the flow of lorry traffic had declined to a minimal amount and the inspectors decided to call it a day.
A total of 82 vehicles had been weighed in that four-our period, out of which eight will be recommended for prosecution. The largest group of vehicles weighed was the two-axle rigid class. Forty-six were weighed, out of which three were reported and four were given a verbal warning.
The next main category was the four-axle artic, of which 20 were weighed and only one reported.
"But the vehicle I am desperately looking out for is an overloaded armoured van carrying gold bullion," quipped Mr Ravenscroft.