Doubt over brake bolt condition
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Clitheroe haulier AJA Smith (Transport) and one of its drivers have been cleared of charges of using a vehicle with defective brakes, following an incident when one of its artics turned over on a roundabout.
The company and driver Christopher Matthews had pleaded not guilty to the offence during a two-day trial before Chester magistrates.
The court was told that Matthews' vehicle turned over after entering the Dunkirk roundabout with another of the company's vehicles on his right-hand side, colliding with another lorry waiting to enter the roundabout.
Police vehicle examiner Eifion Glyn Jones said that when he inspected the vehicle he found that the manual release bolt was missing from the front nearside brake chamber.
Questioned by John Backhouse, defending, Jones agreed that the rubber cap was in position and dirty, as if it had not been removed, and the inside was clean of road dirt. He agreed the missing bolt had no bearing on the accident.
Two of the company's fitters said that the vehicle in question had been rolling road brake tested a week before the accident, and that the bolt must have been there then.
Backhouse said there had to be reasonable doubt that the vehicle had been used with the brake in that condition.
The magistrates ordered defence costs to be paid out of public funds. They convicted Matthews of a charge of careless driving, fining him £80 and ordered him to pay £60 costs.