iutton cleared for wheel loss
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• Sutton & Sons (St Helens) and one of its drivers have been given absote discharges by the Hud?xsfield magistrates, after knitting using a vehicle with Ingerous parts following the ss of a pair of wheels from an ticulated tanker on the M62 otorway, The court was told that a )lice officer saw the vehicle irked in the buffer lane of a ction of the motorway where )adworks were taking place, ter the rear off-side wheels ' the semi-trailer had come t. A police vehicle examiner spected the trailer and conuded that the wheelnuts had :en insufficiently tightened. Driver Raymond Willis said at the vehicle had been in for iutine service two weeks pre viously. He had been told that the offside rear wheels had been changed and he was instructed to check that the nuts remained tight.
On the day concerned, he had travelled 240km (150 miles) before the incident occurred. He had checked the vehicle over before setting off and had been satisfied that the nuts were tight, though he had not used a torque wrench.
Fred Edmondson, Sutton's engineer, said it would not be usual for a driver to use a torque wrench and it would be impossible for a loaded vehicle to travel 2401un (150 miles) with loose wheelnuts.
Defending, Jonathan Lawton referred the court to the Institute of Road Transport Engineers Report The Lost Wheels Mystery, saying that whatever might be thought about wheel loss and the various reasons referred to in the report, driver error was not a major factor.
Willis had 20 years' experience as a driver. He had been given clear instructions about checking the wheelnuts, and the fact the vehicle had travelled 150 miles was inconsistent with the nuts being slack at the start of the journey. Lawton argued that Sutton's maintenance system was such as to meet the very high duty of care the court was entitled to expect.
Sutton & Sons and Willis were ordered to pay 210 costs.