I n the words of a certain British landscape gardener, fixed
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penalty fines for minor road transport offences seem to offer "great capabilities (see opposite)." Our old friend Joe Soap haulier has no doubts that it's a scheme with merits: "Pay the money and run boy. After all, weighbridges can be wrong both ways. Open your mouth and who knows what else they might find wrong with your wagon?" Quite. But before road hauliers clasp fixed penalties to their collective bosom they might like to ponder the implications. For a start, the fines would have to be set high enough to be a deterrent. A police officer quoted in this week's issue suggests a starting point of £100; they could well exceed that figure by a wide margin. And operators shouldn't assume it would be a case of "fork out and forget it".
Pay a Fixed penalty fine and you're admitting your guilt. If you didn't commit the offence, why pay the fine? And when you're hauled up in front of the Licensing Authority to explain why you've notched up a string of minor overloading offences he's unlikely to be impressed by claims that "I wasn't overloaded by much." Mud sticks, especially to an 0-licence.
Which leads us neatly on to the Great British principle of a man being innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his peers (or, better still, someone who doesn't believe the prosecuting authorities are always right when it comes to weighing vehicles).
An operator with a clean record offered a fixed penalty fine on a minor overloading offence could be placed in an invidious position. Should he shut up and pay up, even if he believes the weighbridge or weighing method were inaccurate? Or should he stand his ground, slug it out in court, and risk being well and truly clobbered by a magistrate who doesn't like all those nasty lorries? That no-win option is already being offered in the magistrates courts.
Punishment aside, too many hauliers like Joe reckon that the real trick is not to get caught. Gentlemen, the real trick is not to break the law in the first place.