An operator was ordered to pay fines and costs of £400 for an overloading offence after magistrates rejected a defence that the haulier, although guilty, was morally blameless because the problem had been caused by maintenance contractors. PMP Transport (Ireland) of Keady, Northern Ireland was found guilty of using a vehicle in a dangerous condition after Deputy District Judge Maurice Green rejected defence arguments at Liverpool Magistrates Court.
Prosecuting for VOSA, John Heaton said that the artic had been stopped in a check at Switch Island last June. An examination of the semi-trailer revealed that the air suspension units on the first and second axles were deflated and the air pipes to the suspension units on the third axle were zip-tied together, thus preventing the flow of air through the pipes to inflate the units on the first and second axles. As a result, the third axle was grossly overloaded by 78.5%, with little comparative load on the first and second compensating axles. That could seriously affect the stability and performance of the vehicle in relation to the suspension dynamics and braking system.
The train weight had been exceeded by 2.258 tonnes, consequently a heavily loaded vehicle was being used with defective suspension. For the company, Mark Davies said that there had been a suspension repair carried out by contractors a few days before. The air pipes had been tied off by the contractors while replacing the airbags and on completion they had failed to pressurise the system. The driver had got the prohibition issued lifted by simply cutting the cable ties so that the airbags inflated and the suspension system righted itself.
Davies argued that the High Court had held that where a defendant was morally blameless for a strict liability offence such as this, no penalty should be imposed. Fining the company £200,and ordering it to pay £200 prosecution costs, the District Judge said that was very old law made by "dead judges".
The company was to blame
The District Judge considered that the train weight overload was an aggravating feature and something that was the company's responsibility.
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