News

A driver and his employers who overloaded a vehicle with food have been ordered to pay more than £5,000 in fines and costs. Solihull Magistrates heard that a truck used by Eastern Catering of Burleys Way, Leicester to deliver to scores of restaurants, was overloaded by 1,980kg, equating to 56%. Helen Bradin, prosecuting for Vosa, said road users were put at risk because the overload could have affected  the brakes and steering, as well as from causing excessive wear to the road surface.

"There was also the commercial advantage of the overload", she added. "Two trucks would have normally been needed to transport the load if the weight restrictions had been enforced." Abdul Rauf, who runs the firm and driver Zafar Mahmood of Normanton Road, Leicester both pleaded not guilty to overloading the vehicle. They were convicted in their absence. Rauf was fined £2,500 with £2,232 costs and Mahmood was fined £200 with £420 costs.

Bradin said the overload was detected in Birmingham when Vosa official Bill Hutinchinson saw the truck swaying from side to side - the excessive load had caused the tyres to deflate. Both Rauf and Mahmood, who had loaded the vehicle, denied in statements that the vehicle was overloaded but Bradin produced evidence showing the weighbridge was in perfect working order.