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Ban looms two overload and you're out of the game
Page 6
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EXCLUSIVE • by Emma Penny Overloading vehicles more than twice in three years could result in disqualification or impounding under "draconian" and "insane" recommendations in a Home O ffice publication, Report Or the Review of Road Traffic Penalties.
The report says: 'Overloading was considered not to be taken seriously enough, and the review suggests mandatory minimum disqualification for a second offence. Although the owner or consignor of the vehicle are liable under current legislation and should not escape punishment where culpable, the driver must also be held to account if he takes an unsafe vehicle on the road.
"Temporary forfeiture of the vehicle may be an appropriate penalty for owners who deliberately flout the law," it warns.
A spokesman for the Home Office says it "consulted widely" before drawing up the recommendations: The government believes overloading isn't taken seriously enough, and most of our responses were in favour of this proposal."
He says there is no timetable for more detailed proposals being drawn up, but admits that the Home Office is 'pursuing avenues It can go down to do this".
The report makes no mention of current statutory defences, such as where a truck is stopped on its way to a weighbridge; neither does it say what types of overloading will lead to impounding—for example a major gross overload or a minor axle overload.
Oxford-based solicitor Chris Butterfield, of Herbert Hallam Cowers, says the recom mendations are causing concern, and he can't believe they are going unchallenged: "Every road transport lawyer, and most operators, have seen instances of inadvertent overloading, particularly axle overloads with multi-drop deliveries."
Ford & Warren solicitor Gary Hodgson says the -mandatory" nature of the recommendations must be challenged because it appears this will result in innocent and deliberate overloading being treated in the same way: "Magistrates and Traffic Commissioners already have enough powers to deal with overloading."
The Freight Transport Association slammed the recommendations as "draconian", particularly given the practical problems involved with overloading.
Karen Dee, Road Haulage Association policy director, adds that while the RHA supports tougher enforcement, overloading is a different issue: "It's not as clear cut as running without an Operator's Licence or with bald tyres. And what's 'dangerous condition'—a little or a lot overloaded?"
Condemning the recommendations as "insane", one Southern-based tipper operator says : "It's often Russian Roulette when you pick up loado would we know unless we fitted r vehicles with weigh loaders, and whc pay for that?"