Limiter offences cost haulier dear
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Repeated speed-limiter offences cost Shrewsbury haulier Garry Slater a total of 85,075 in fines and costs when he appeared before Liverpool City Magstrates.
Slater, who trades as RJ Slater & Son, pleaded guilty to 20 offences of using a vehicle when the speed limiter was not restricting its maximum speed and to one offence of using a vehicle when the speed limiter had been interfered with. He was fined 85,000 and ordered to pay £75 prosecution costs.
The driver of the vehicle, John Evan Jones, of Welshpool, admitted similar offences and was fined 81,000 and ordered to pay 870 costs.
Prosecuting on behalf of the Vehicle Inspectorate, Peter Illsley said that in May an antic driven by Jones was checked at Limekiln Lane, Liverpool. It was evident from the tachograph charts Jones produced that the limiter was not controlling the vehicle's speed. An inspection revealed that, although the limiter fuse was in place, its seal had been broken.
Asked why the limiter had not been controlling the vehicle's speed, Jones had replied: "I have pulled the fuse out to immobilise it." He went on to say that he had been pulling the fuse for six months and that his employer had never pointed out any infringements to him.
An examination of six months' charts showed that Slater had driven the vehicle on a number of occasions when the limiter was not working, said Illsley. Asked why he had not noticed that the speed limiter had not been working for some time, Slater replied: "I haven't, full stop and that's that."
Asked why he had used the vehicle when the limiter was not working, Slater had said that he was unaware it was not working.