Speight not guilty
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• A Bradford skip hire firm was not guilty of running a dangerous vehicle even though both its nearside wheels came off, the town's magistrates have ruled.
Speight Skip Hire denied using a truck in a condition that danger was, or was likely to be, caused because of insufficiently tight wheelnuts.
Police accident investigator PC William Collins told the magistrates that an investigation showed that abrasion had taken place between the rims and the hub assembly.
The mating face of the inner road wheel was corroded and heavily pitted. The mating face designed to abut the hub assembly had traces of paint sticking to it. The wheels had come off because the nuts were not tight enough, said Collins.
Director Gary Speight said that two days before the accident one of the wheels had been replaced by a specialist contractor. Drivers were instructed to check wheelnuts after 50km.
Questioned by Jonathan Lawton, defending, Collins accepted the wheels could have become detached because of dirt between the faces, even though the nuts had been tightened.