Operator was not to blame for insecure load
Page 17
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The defence costs of a Preston haulier are to be paid out of public funds after he was cleared of using a vehicle with an insecure load by Wetherby magistrates in North Yorkshire. James Fazakerly, trading as JEF Haulage, had pleaded not guilty to using a Daf tractor with an insecure load. The charge followed an incident in which bales of straw had come off one of his artics after a motorist had caused the driver to brake suddenly. PC Collins, of North Yorkshire Police, said that he had been called to the Ml roundabout at Stourton junction where he saw bales of straw lying on the pavement.
The way that the bales had been roped was haphazard and had put too much strain on the cleats on the semi-trailer, he said. A number of the ropes were broken and frayed. Defending, John Backhouse pointed out that Fazakerly had no knowledge of the way the driver had secured the load away from base. He argued that the prosecution had failed to make out its case. Fazakerly had been charged with using the tractor unit with an insecure load, and not the trailer, which in fact belonged to somebody else.
He pointed out that in the case of NFC Forwarding, the High Court had ruled that using a defective trailer was not the same as using a defective motor vehicle.
The magistrates refused an application by the prosecution to amend the summons and acquitted the driver Kevin Chanter of a similar offence.