Overload convictions upheld
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• Oldham-based Rachelfield and one of the company's drivers have lost their appeals against convictions for overloading offences following the use of weigh pads by Wigan Trading Standards Department.
The company and driver Alan Jankunas had been convicted by Leigh magistrates of exceeding the permitted first-axle and gross weight of a 7.5-tonne road construction vehicle.
The company was fined £1,600 with £900 costs; Jankunas was fined £500 with .£400 costs (CM 22-29 April).
However, Bolton Crown Court reduced the company's fines to £1,000 and Jankuna's fines to £100 and quashed the order for Costs against him.
Trading standards officer Kathy Anne Martin accepted that there was a difference in the weights shown by the pads at each end of the first axle, but she was unable to explain how that had occurred.
Senior trading standards officer Barry McGlynn said he had tested the weigh pads on the morning of the check and he was satisfied that they were operating accurately.
He agreed with Jonathan Lawton, for the company and driver, that there was still no code of
practice for the use of weigh pads despite continuing discussions. He was unable to offer an explanation as to why the pads had produced different readings.
Lawton said that as the vehicle did not have a ministry plate, the charges had been brought under the wrong regulations.
The judge, Assistant Recorder Brunnen, said that they were complicated regulations which might be better considered by a higher court.
Lawton pointed out to the court that there were apparently unexplained inaccuracies in the use of the weigh pads.
He added that the action of the trading standards officer in requiring the weight to be reduced had prevented the company checking the weight on a weighbridge.
Judge Brunnen said he was satisfied from the evidence that the weigh pads had been accurate on that occasion.