Irish clamp down on timber loads
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colunt, the Irish Forestry Board,has confirmed to CM that it is testing automatic weighbridges to counteract overloading by timber hauliers on the public roads.
Spokeswoman Maureen Delaney says: "We will not tolerate overloading. We will not tolerate loads over 44 tonnes." Coillte has been working with the sawmills on the overloading issue,she adds. Hauliers are traditionally paid by the sawmill for haulage work undertaken. "There is a problem of overloading. We will record the actual weight of the load with the automatic weighbridge, and it's the hauliers who are legally obliged to see the weight is correct," Delaney explains.
In an inquiry last year, the Irish authorities discovered that timber hauliers were persistently overloading their trucks — the second-worst offenders behind waste hauliers. Under the new system, a forest weight docket is being issued to hauliers and the destination sawmill will identify who is travelling heavy.
Some hauliers allege that others are carrying up to 60 tonnes in some instances. (see Consignor Culprits, page 38).