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Operator begs court to help keep his firm afloat
Page 12
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THE BOSS OF a Nailsworth, Glos haulage firm pleaded with the Solihull magistrates to help save his business after being accused of causing danger to road users by overloading a veh icle with window frames.
In a letter to the court Stephen Nicholls, who runs Eclipse Haulage & Couriers at Spring Mill Industrial Estate, Avening Road. said his business was at a low ebb because it had lost two major contracts. Both the customers concerned had gone into liquidation and he could not afford to take time off to attend court because he had to look for additional work to keep his business running, Nicholls wrote.
He went on to appeal to the magistrates to help him "keep his firm afloat' The magistrates fined Nicholls' firm £600 with E148 costs and his driver Adrian Close, of Arch way Gardens, Stroud, G ios, E235 with £115 costs for the overloading offence.
However, the magistrates said they would allow Nicholls to pay his fine at £100 a month to ease the company's financial situation.
Nicholls and Close had both admitted the offence by letter, Dominic Green, prosecuting for Vasa, said the vehicle was found to be overloaded by 720kg (equivalent to 34%) during a roadside check on the A46 near Birmingham. Close was prohibited from driving the vehicle any further because of the overload, he added.
The court was told that overloading was considered a danger because it could affect the brakes and cause an accident.
In his letter Nicholls told the court that the double-glazed windowframes had been loaded at a customer's site.