Knebworth, Herts-based Easy Mix Concrete has been ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £2,500 for using a vehicle in an overloaded condition. The company admitted the offence before the Hertford magistrates.
Prosecuting for Vosa, Anthony Ostrin told the magistrates that a 32-tonne, four-axle Scania rigid belonging to the company and laden with sand and cement was stopped on a journey between South Mimms and Ditchworth. The vehicle was weighed and the maximum permitted gross weight of
32,000kg was found to have been exceeded by 6,960kg - an overload of 21.75%.
For the company, Philip Labrum said the vehicle was taxed as a special plant vehicle and the company had believed that as a result it was exempt from the regulations relating to the overloading of vehicles. However he was unable to show the court any such exemption and the company was therefore obliged to plead guilty. The magistrates fined Easy Mix Concrete £1,500 with £1,000 costs.
Strict liability
Overloading a vehicle is an offence of strict liability, with the only defence being that the vehicle was en route to the nearest available weighbridge.
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