Driver fined for broken straps
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• A truck driver who used worn and damaged straps to restrain a metal container he was hauling has been Fined £240 after a strap broke and it fell on to the road.
Last week Harold Lacey from Annan, Dumfriesshire, pleaded guilty before Carlisle magistrates to having a dangerous load. The court heard Lacey was travelling From Carlisle to Sellafield under police escort when one of the straps holding the 3.5tonne cylinder snapped. Prosecutor Dick Binstead said Lacey had only travelled a few miles after picking up the load and was moving at walking pace when the accident happened.
Police found that one of the two straps holding the cylinder was knotted where it had been broken; the other had several cuts in it. When challenged, Lacey told police: 'We keep them until they're knackered." He was fined 2200 with 240 costs. Charges against Springer Farms of Dumfries, the owner of the truck, were dropped after the prosecution agreed it could not have been aware of the condition of the straps.