SHIFTING WEIGHTS
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III Your report on the recent llipwood & Grundy overloading case in Commercial Motor, November 22 1986 helped my own company gain an absolute discharge in a similar case at Bingley Magistrates.
Last June. one of my tippers — a 6 x 4 Volvo carrying hotrolled asphalt — was checkweighed by traffic examiners at Steeton. According to the examiners the vehicle had a 19% front-axle overload, although it was two tonnes below its maximum gross weight.
After letting the driver redistribute the load by raising the ram, causing the asphalt to settle further back down the body, our driver was allowed to go on his way.
I received, however, a summons on the front-axle offence and appeared at Bingley magistrates on January 28. In our defence we gave the example of Hipwood & Grundy, which was cleared on a rear-axle overload charge, caused by the load of oil surging backwards as the vehicle ran across the weighbridge.
This was particularly relevant to my case, because on that day, as the driver descended the hill to the Steeton axle weigher and braked, he felt the asphalt load shift forward as he turned on to the bridge.
After reviewing our case the magistrates gave my driver and the company an absolute discharge.
Ken Longthorne Hebden Nr Skipton Yorkshire