Driver forgot to check weigh
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• George Allinson Transport was given an absolute discharge for an overloading offence after one of its drivers admitted that he had forgotten to follow instructions and check weigh on a dynamic axle weigher at the company's premises.
The company and driver Frank Cavanagh pleaded guilty to exceeding the permitted second-axle weight of a 38-tonne artic, when they appeared before Wetherby magistrates.
Traffic examiner Tracey Caplin said that when Cavanagh's vehicle was check weighed the second axle was found to be overloaded by 16%.
For the company, Gary Hodgson said that Cavanagh had been instructed to weigh his vehicle before he left the depot, using a dynamic weighbridge which the company had installed in January at a cost of about £7,000. Cavanagh had been given a formal disciplinary warning for his failure to comply with that instruction, said Hodgson.
In his defence Cavanagh said that the weighbridge had only been operational for about a fortnight at the time and he had forgotten to check weigh as he was in a rush.
Hodgson argued that Allinson could not be held to blame for the overloading offence.
The magistrates fined Cavanagh £75, and ordered him to pay £25 prosecution costs.