ONE LAW
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We refer to a recent case reported in CM in which Dudley Council was found guilty of overloading (CM2-8 March).
We are a small haulage business with two working partners and two employees and every day is a struggle to continue trading in today's financial climate.
One of our vehicles was recently found to be overweight and we were taken through the legal system and fined a considerable sum of money.
We were told that the judgment was actually lenient because there were some mitigating circumstances. We have held an 0-licence for 25 years and this was our first offence. All the paperwork in our possession showed the weight of the load to be less than the legal requirement. Still, we were found guilty.
To then see a government organisation such as Dudley Council caught flouting the law 83 times with very little consequence is a disgrace which makes a mockery of the legal system. The only difference is that Dudley Council has unlimited funds to employ legal counsel on its behalf.
Smaller companies such as ours have neither the time nor the resources to continually battle through the courts.
This letter is to demand that overloading offences are treated equally.
If Dudley Council is able to flout the law and get away with it then convictions against our company should be quashed and fines repaid. Either that or Dudley Council should be treated the same as us—and fined accordingly.
Linda Wise,
East Coast Line, Ben fleet, Essex.