n I understand that recent legislation has made it necessary
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
virtually to sheet and rope every load. Does this mean that the former C and U Regulation about safety of loads has been replaced and do the former penalties for non-compliance apply now to the new Regulation?
A Regulation 90(2) of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1973 has been replaced by a new paragraph (2) as the result of Regulation 12(b) of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 1976 S1317. This now reads: "The load carried by a motor vehicle shall at all times be secured, if necessary, by physical restraint other than its own weight, and be in such a position that neither danger nor nuisance is likely to be caused to any person or property by reason of the load or any part thereof falling or being blown from the vehicle or by any reason of any other movement of the load or any part thereof in relation to the vehicle."
Schedule 4 of the Road Traffic Act 1972 lays down penalties for the contravention of C and U Regulations and the new paragraph is subject to these penalties. The penalties were increased in Schedule 5 of the Road Traffic Act 1974.
Now they comprise a maximum fine of £400, discretionary disqualification of the driver and obligatory endorsement of his licence unless he can prove that he did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that the facts of the case were such that the offence would he committed.