Driver not blamed for runaway truck
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• Truck driver Peter Barton was given an absolute discharge by Stockport magistrates after they accepted that an unknown defect had caused his vehicle to run away down a hill.
Barton had pleaded guilty to using a vehicle with a defective handbrake. He told the court that on the day in question he had started work at 05:00hrs. Barton had used the handbrake regularly without having problems before stopping on Didsbury Road at about 11:00hrs. The vehicle's tax disc had previously been stolen and a policeman came to speak to him about it after he got down from the cab. While he was talking to the officer the vehicle began to roll away.
For Barton, John Backhouse said a subsequent inspection had revealed that the rod connecting the handbrake to the compensator had snapped. The vehicle had been inspected nine days previously without any defect being apparent.
Arguing that the defect was a latent one about which the driver had had no prior knowledge, Backhouse maintained that it was a case for an absolute discharge with no endorsement.
Magistrates decided not to endorse Barton's driving licence but ordered him to pay £20 prosecution costs.