£800 overload fine
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• Mainland Market Deliveries was fined a total of 2800 (2400 per offence) with 2214 costs after being convicted of gross and second axle overloads by the Knutsford, Cheshire magistrates. The driver of the vehicle, Dennis Fewings, was fined 260 (230 per offence).
The company and Fewings denied gross and second axle overloads on a Mercedes twoaxle tractive unit drawing a three-axle French trailer loaded with carbon black.
Senior traffic examiner Keith Gill said the second axle had an overload of 1,518kg, 14.9% over the plated weight of 10,172kg on the plating certificate in the cab.
There was also a gross overload of 980kg, 6% over the plated weight of 16,260kg. Three plates had been issued for the vehicle, the first issued in 1983 showing a second axle weight of 10,172kg.
A replacement plate was issued in April 1984 showing a second axle weight of 10, 170kg.
The third plate was issued in November 1985 and showed a second axle weight of 1,500kg and a gross weight of 16,500kg.
When the vehicle was stopped in July 1985 it was still displaying the first plate issued.
In reply to Michael Fryer, defending, Gill said that even if the vehicle had been updated in July 1985 it would still have been overloaded.
Fryer said Gill had told him that the plate in the cab was incorrect. He agreed with Christopher Worthy, prosecuting, that he had not weighed the vehicle before setting off from Portsmouth or on the route between Portsmouth and Manchester.
Transport consultant Colin Ward said this was a perfect example of a case where the haulier had no control over the situation.
The tractive unit had a chassis spread of 2.7m and could have been plated at 17. tonnes. It was plated at 16 tonnes owing to an error by the manufacturer.
In his opinion the plate weight shown on the vehicle was incorrect as it had a design weight on the second axle of 10,500kg.
The French trailer had a 1.45m pin overhang which meant that the adjustable fiftt. wheel on the tractive unit hac to be in the rearrnost positior to prevent the trailer fouling the cab. The driver could not have known there was an ax1 overload.
Ward agreed with Worthy that even if the vehicle had been updated the second axle overload would still have exceeded 10 per cent.
Fryer said the plating certificate in the cab was not the correct one for that vehicle. The summonses referred to exceeding the weight shown on the plating certificate for that vehicle.