Wheel loss success
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
port has acknowledged the danger of unexplained truck wheel loss following extensive campaigning by the IRTE and Commercial Motor.
It is launching a wheel loss information drive in May, targeting drivers and workshops. The campaign will kick off at the Institute of Road Transport Engineers' conference in Telford on 9-10 May, with a presentation by Roads and Traffic Minister Christopher Chope. The Dip is producing posters and two booklets, one for drivers and one for maintenance staff. They will be distributed via trade associations, including the Road Haulage Association, the Freight Transport Association, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
"The driver's booklet can be carried in his cab and tells the driver what to look for," says RHA technical manager Bob Stacey. It advises checking wheel nuts for rust lines and retightening a newly fitted wheel after a short running-in period.
The maintenance leaflet is more detailed and includes tips on keeping surfaces clean and paint-free, checking nuts for dirt and cracks, and wheel holes for distortion.
As the campaign to find an answer to the lost-wheels mystery gathers pace, a haulier whose runaway wheel caused a fatal accident a year ago has been found guilty of using a semi-trailer with a dangerous wheel and hub.
Winchester magistrates found Cardiff Transport and its driver Jeffrey Harding jointly guilty. Harding was fined 230 with 220 costs. The company, which was cleared of having a vehicle with defective braking, was ordered to pay 2100 costs. Both had denied the charges.
During the trial legal and engineering experts debated the possible causes for the loss of the wheel.
Prosecutor Alastair Nisbet told the court that the wide single wheel and hub which replaced two smaller standard wheels on the converted triaxle were incompatible. He alleged that any movement between them would have been exacerbated by a makeshift spacer used to help the wheel and hub fit tightly together. This was not made properly, he claimed, but it was never recovered after the incident in which the wheel struck a Securicor van, causing it to somersault.
For Cardiff Transport, Jonathan Lawton said that the factors blamed for the wheel loss had gone undetected despite two Department of Transport inspections before the accident.
Harding had found no loose nuts on the vehicle before starting his journey to Hythe, near Southampton.
Securicor guards Brian Harris, 43, of Rampart Road, Bitterne, Southampton, and Ralph Wiltshire, 60, of Bank, near Lyndhurst, were killed in the incident. A third guard, Paul Brooks, 28, of Netley Abbey was left unable to walk or talk. Their families are considering legal action for compensation.
LI Donations to the Commercial Motor wheel loss fund can still be made by sending cheques, payable to the fund, at Room 403, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS.