ER F'S kingpin clears Myers and its driver
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• Clitheroe-based J H Myers and one of its drivers were given an absolute discharge for an overloading offence last week when South Ribble Magistrates were told that the kingpin on the ERF artic concerned was 75mm (3in) further forward than on 14 similar ERF trucks operated by the firm, Myers and driver Leagh Middleton admitted overloading the first axle of a 38-tonne artic by 500kg, some 8.19%.
The court was told that when the vehicle, which had been carrying sand, had been checked at the Salmesbury dynamic axle weigher, the first axle had weighed 6,600kg, as opposed to the permitted 6,100kg.
Defending, John Backhouse said that after the event the company had discovered that the kingpin was 75mm (3in) further forward than on its other ERFs. There had been no occasion to doubt its position previously.
The sand had been loaded on to the vehicle as it had been standing on a weighbridge at the customer's premises until the weight had been correct. That method had been adopted because a fully-loaded vehicle could not go back on to the sand without sinking in. For the same reason it had been possible to check the rear axle weight, but not the front axle weight, as the rear axle would have been on the sand when the front axle was on the weighbridge.
When weighed at the loading point, the train weight had been 38,040kg, while that recorded at Salmesbury had been 38,320kg. As had been found with three other loads, that the same vehicle had weighed slightly less when checked on a dynamic weigher than it had weighed at the loading point, it was possible that, this time, the weighing at Salmesbury had been slightly inaccurate.
The magistrates refused a prosecution application for costs, after Backhouse had produced a letter explaining the facts which had been sent to the prosecution before the summonses had been issued.