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Tipper driver plans

7th August 1997, Page 5
7th August 1997
Page 5
Page 5, 7th August 1997 — Tipper driver plans
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to sue after crash BETTER!

by Stuart Ellis • A tipper driver is suing his former employer after he reported that the brakes on his truck needed attention two days before they failed on a steep hill, putting several lives at risk.

Matlock magistrates heard last week how driver Keith Taylor faced the dilemma of jumping from the cab of the runaway truck or risking his life by trying to steer the tipper away from children walking up Lime Tree Road, Matlock.

The truck knocked down road signs and wrecked a garage before crashing into a house and trees.

Taylor escaped serious injuries hut his solicitor, Jonathan Taaffe, said he was so traumatised by last September's crash that his driving career was at an end and he was suing his former employers, Mansfield, Notts-based F Tee Transport.

Taylor, of Brampton. Chesterfield, admitted using a vehicle with defective brakes and an incorrectly set speed limiter. But he was given an absolute discharge after the court heard that he had asked his employers to check the brakes two days before the crash.

Vehicle examiner Peter Briggs found four brake linings on the truck were excessively worn and a load-sensing valve had seized. He reported that the defects could have been detected by a simple inspection by a qualified fitter.

Francis Tann of F Tee Transport pleaded guilty by letter to operating a vehicle with defective brakes and to the speed limiter offence. Ile was fined £3,000.


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