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So overweight the tyres bulged... fined £1,300
Page 38
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A LONDON truck driver whose vehicle was so dangerously overloaded the tyres were bulging has been fined £1,000 plus £300 costs. His other serious offences included driving without insurance and with the wrong licence.
Okorie Shadrach, of Coburg Road, Wood Green, pleaded guilty to the offences before Barking Magistrates. Anthony Ostrin, prosecuting for VOSA, told the court that Shadrach's two-axled goods vehicle carrying mixed electrical goods was weighed and found to be overloaded. The maximum permitted weight for
the first axle of 4,100kgs was exceeded by 49.76% or 2,040kgs.The maximum gross weight of 12,000kgs was exceeded by 33.67% or 4,004kgs.
"The severity of the overloading caused the tyres to bulge and the excessive stress placed upon the vehicle, steering and brakes, could have affected the performance of the vehicle and caused danger to other road users", said Ostrin. "The percentage of overload in this case was considered by the department as a very serious and dangerous overweight."
Further enquiries revealed that Shadrach was not the holder of a category 'C' driving licence, which was required for driving this particular vehicle and consequently, he would be uninsured, said Ostrin.That was also considered to be extremely serious.
For Shadrach, Sinead O'Rourke said that the vehicle had previously been weighed at Tilbury Docks when it had been found not to be overweight but when later weighed by the DfT's weighbridge, this was found to be the case. Clearly, one of the weighbridges was indicating a wrong weight. Shadrach did not realise that he had an incorrect licence because he normally drove vehicles of a lesser weight.
The magistrates fined Shadrach £1,000, ordered him to pay £300 prosecution costs and endorsed his driving licence with eight penalty points. DRIVER MUST HAVE KNOWN
The amounts of the excess weight were such that the driver must clearly have been aware that the vehicle was overloaded.