Police told to pay
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• Costs of £500 were awarded against the police when 17 alleged offences involving the movement of a mobile crane along the motorway by Hewden Stuart Heavy Cranes were dismissed by the Weatherby Magistrates.
The company denied using an excluded vehicle on the motorway and overloading each of the six axles of the crane and the four axles of what the prosecution alleged was a trailer; gross overloads of both crane and the alleged trailer; two offences of exceeding the permitted length and two of exceeding the permitted width.
The prosecution said police officers had observed the 140tonne crane travelling along the M62 motorway towing some form of trailer. Mobile cranes are not allowed to tow trailers.
Defending, Michael Paterson said the alleged trailer was in fact a gib and bogie which form part of the crane. A "trailer" is defined as a vehicle drawn by a motor vehicle. The prosecution did not bring evidence concerning the latter part of the crane, and there was no evidence that it was "a vehicle" in its own right.