Tipper wins overload discharge
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A Cocker mouth tipper operator had a £625 overloading fine quashed after Carlisle Crown Court accepted that he was not to blame. Penrith Magistrates had fined Eric Nicholson and one of his drivers after one of his vehicles was found to have overloaded rear axles while carrying excavated
material from Carlisle to a nearby tip.
The court heard that when the tipper was checked on the dynamic axle weighbridge on the A74 at Harker it was found to have a 17% overload on its compensating axles.
For Nicholson, John Backhouse said that the driver had been fined only £75 with £20 costs, suggesting the magistrates had considered that there was only a minor degree of blame on his part.
Backhouse pointed out that Nicholson operated a fleet of 17 vehicles and had no history of overloading convictions.
He referred the Court to the High Court decision of Hart vs Bex, which said that if a defendant was morally guiltless of an absolute liability offence like overloading, and had not been negligent, than an absolute discharge was appropriate.
Quashing the fine, and substituting an absolute discharge, Judge Alistair Bell said he was happy to say that he felt that a fine was not appropriate.
He directed that Nicholson's appeal costs be met out of public funds.