MAKE YOUR MIND UP
Page 3
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• "Operators and drivers should take all possible care to ensure that vehicles are not overloaded ... rather than attempt to second guess the decision of an enforcement officer." Quite right too, but why should hauliers try and second guess a traffic examiner at a weighbridge in the first place?
Well for a start they might have read the story in Commercial Motor last September about the Vehicle Inspectorate advising its examiners not to prosecute hau liers unless their vehicle was more than 10%, or one tonne, above its permitted weight. The previous tolerance was 5%.
Now it says that pi/overloading offences are liable to prosecution. Make your minds up chaps—either the VI is operating to set tolerances or it isn't. If it is then the VI is showing a most welcome degree of pragmatism by accepting that for a variety of reasons, not least the vagaries of truck weighing, it is not always possible to load a truck to the exact legal limit.
If it isn't then perhaps the VI could bring its not inconsiderable influence to bear on the Department of Transport to introduce more self-weigh dynamic axle weighers, open to hauliers 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. And maybe it could also explain the Dip's code of practice for both static and dynamic weighbridges to every policeman and enforcement officer in the country so that whenever they check-weigh a wagon they know what the hell they're supposed to be doing. At the moment, as our Legal News story shows (page 10), not all of them do.
CI Like the rest of the industry, CM has to take note of rising prices. From this week's issue we have been forced to increase our cover price but — like any good haulier — we're offering a better service than ever with more colour and more pages to give you the best package in the business.