I was that sinner.Within the French legal requirement but over a bit in the UK.Off the ferry up to the border post where Vosa are able to check weigh,was then directed to wait to be weighed again on the self weigher.This done,was required to have load moved at a cost of £200 then weighed again,shock horror,Vosa then issued a Fixed penalty of £120.Took form home and considered options and decided to return,see you in Court.
Made a few phone calls and found out that Vosa operate in the Port at the managements discretion,have a verbal agreement to inspect and weigh vehicles only.Management was horrified to find out from myself that Vosa was imposing fixed penalties,Vosa had not told management that they were breaking the agreement and were imposing fixed penalties.The reason management were upset was, as many will guess,TUGMASTERS.No tax,no mot,red derv,drivers do not require HGV licences and as 4x2’s are on many occasions massively overloaded.
Now you will appreciate that no Law in the Land exists,at the moment,that allows Vosa to operate within the port and no Law of the Land,as yet,permits Vosa to impose a fixed penalty on private land although with Vosa’s employer being bankrupt and borrowing £billions to survive each day,I expect it will soon be extremely difficult to complete a days work without recieving a penalty,
Now I don’t require a donation to my fighting fund and as things stand today I probably have more money than Vosa anyway,but this is not about the present it’s the future of all of us.
Can I add that at no time did Vosa try to ascertain whether it was my intention to drive out the gate overloaded,to my mind they acted prematurely
And just in case someone thinks Vosa are doing a great job,last time I was in a roadside check the Vosa operative,toffee hammer in hand,couldn’t tell the difference between a wheelnut and a chromed wheelnut cover.
Armagedon:
The reason management were upset was, as many will guess,TUGMASTERS.No tax,no mot,red derv,drivers do not require HGV licences and as 4x2’s are on many occasions massively overloaded.
VOSA would surely not be stupid enough to upset the port management by pulling a shunter though. Plus although they are perhaps overloaded by the limits for use on public roads, they’re well within their design spec even carrying fully laden trailers intended for 6x2 units (for example a quick look at a Terberg brochure online shows it has a maximum axle load limit of a massive 35000kg on the rear axle as long as you don’t exceed 20km/h).
Paul
Paul
Managements other concern is just business reasons,if Vosa are overly enthusiastic they will drive away trade to another port which is why Vosa are restricted to just 2 days a week but I did get the impression they don’t want them there at all.
Surely because the port area is not classed as a public highway, they can’t really make that stick.
Big Joe:
Surely because the port area is not classed as a public highway, they can’t really make that stick.
Sorry mate, ALL UK port roads ARE public roads for the purposes of applying the Road Traffic Act 1988, and as proven in the stated case of DPP v Coulman (1993). Therefore all road traffic legislation is applicable so VOSA do not require any agreement or otherwise from the port authority to issue said fixed penalties.
Sothtcoastsurfer
You may be correct but it is interesting that in the recent Transport Select Committee report it was stated…Vosa should have the same access to ports as immigration officials which could be easily achieved by a memorandum of understanding between Vosa and the ports,If no agreement can be reached,ministers must legislate.
I was informed by management that if they require the police to deal with drunks they are obliged to authorise access to the port before the police will enter.If Vosa supposedly already have the authority as you seem to imply someone should maybe tell the TSC.
southcoastsurfer:
ALL UK port roads ARE public roads for the purposes of applying the Road Traffic Act 1988,
Even though they’re mostly private land with no casual access to the general public?, and until recently, using a vehicle subject to tachograph regs in these areas could be classed as off road driving?.
I feel a big court case coming on, VOSA v ■■? Dock Authority 
Armagedon:
Sothtcoastsurfer
You may be correct but it is interesting that in the recent Transport Select Committee report it was stated…Vosa should have the same access to ports as immigration officials which could be easily achieved by a memorandum of understanding between Vosa and the ports,If no agreement can be reached,ministers must legislate.
I was informed by management that if they require the police to deal with drunks they are obliged to authorise access to the port before the police will enter.If Vosa supposedly already have the authority as you seem to imply someone should maybe tell the TSC.
Indeed there is no general power of entry to the ports granted to VOSA, and you are correct to state they are within UK ports only on the invitation on the relevant port authority. No invitation or agreement though has any effect on the implimentation of the law as far as the road traffic act is concerned. In other words, the port simply cannot say “ok we’ll let you in, but you’re not allowed to issue fixed penalties”, the port authority have no right in law to do that and cannot attempt to do that in the form or any entry agreement.
Big Joe:
Even though they’re mostly private land with no casual access to the general public?
Yes mate, the legal definition of a road can be applied to private property even with restricted access. DPP V Coulman (1993) is the stated case in relation to this which demonstrates how the road traffic act is applicable, even within the confines of a port!
Good morning Southcoastsurfer
There is the other issue not yet raised,the axle weighbridges in various ports could be classed as the first available check weighing facility from a drivers point of loading in Europe, since Europe does not have the neurosis about weight as the UK has and actual facilities are scarce.You must realise I am an expert in law,I have watched more episodes of Judge Judy than you could shake a stick at.
Road:
A road is defined as follows under Section 192(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 as follows:
“Any Highway and any other road to which the public has access, and includes bridges over which a road passes…”
Generally a road stretches to the boundary fences or grass verges adjacent to it including any pavements (as stated in Worth v Brooks [1959] Crim LR 855)
If a vehicle is partly on a road and partly on some other privately owned land it can be treated as being “on the road” for the purposes of the road traffic legislation (Randell v Motor Insurer’s Bearu [1969] 1 All ER 21)
“Public Roads” which are refered to in the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 are those roads which are repairable at the public expense.
Public Place under the Road Traffic Act
In order for it to be proevn that somewhere is a “Public Place” for the purposes of road traffic offences it must be shown by the prosicution that:
Those people who are admitted to the place in question are members of the public and are admitted as such, not as members of some special or particular class of the public (eg people belonging to an exclusive club) or as a result of some special characteristic tha is not shared by the public at large, and;
Those people are so admitted with the permission, express or implied, of the owner of the land in question.
(DPP v Vivier [1991]RTR 205)
Places that have stated cases that show them to be public places are:
A privately-owned Caravan site open to campers (DDP v Vivier [1991] RTR 205)
A school playground used outside of school hours as a leisure park by members of the public (Rodger v Normand 1994 SCCR 861)
The “Inward Freight Immigration Lanes” at Dover Eastern Docks (DPP v Coulman [1993] RTR 230)
A field used in connection with an agricultural show (Paterson v Ogilvey 1957 SLT 354)
A Multi Storey car park (Bowman v DPP [1991] RTR 263)
A Highway
A “Highway” is a way over which the public has a right to pass and re-pass by foot, horse or vehicle, or with animals (Lang v Hindhaugh [1986] RTR 271)
Highways will include public bridleways and footpaths; they also include public bridges over which they pass. For any further definitions of a highway see Section 329 of the Highways Act 1980.
This might be of use?
Thanks ■■■■■
Already viewed that buddy and if my old memory serves me right I think it was a drinking case.I am aware that Vosa is wanting our European partners to fit weighbridges in all their ports so that vehicles arrive in the UK ‘legal’,just like our Department of Abject Failure in Transport[DAFT] after the Zeebrugge disaster thought weighing lorries before they boarded the ferry was a good idea.Europe rejected the idea but the DAFT as you are aware required lorries to weigh in the UK before boarding,too damned stupid to realise even then the UK wasn’t a major exporter and a great number of lorries travelled back to Europe empty.The good Lord does find work for idle hands.
southcoastsurfer:
Yes mate, the legal definition of a road can be applied to private property even with restricted access. DPP V Coulman (1993) is the stated case in relation to this which demonstrates how the road traffic act is applicable, even within the confines of a port!
Well mate, when you get unhindered access to docks (only a matter of time), looks like you’d better get yer pencil sharpeners out and several pads of pg9s, because from what I’ve seen of some of the tugmasters used at some of our ‘‘premier’’ ports, your going to be busy 
Another day , another truck , another £ 200 penalty for being overwight on Pin by 5%.
OK on gross weight. This is even though driver made a point of telling VOSA he wanted to check weigh.
Daylight robbery.
david1686:
Another day , another truck , another £ 200 penalty for being overwight on Pin by 5%.
Daylight robbery.
While they’re filling in their donation receipt pads, think of them as charity collectors, helping a needy goverment to top up its bank rescue benevolent fund 
This country 
David 1686 sent you my phone number,time for a council of WAR,ring whenever.
Ihave not seen vosa in Portsmouth docks for six months now, and i,m thru there 2 or 3 times most weeks(maybe just luck) have seen them on numerous occations on the A34 Sutton Scotney ect, though.
The last time i was checked for wt was 2 years ago, and along with an ulsterman we moved the loads back on the customs bay after they had gone home, but we had to wait till the next morning to get overwt lifted,
no charges 
Fixed Penalty cancelled after a letter was written to VOSA basically saying this …
I am sure that you are aware that the 1988 RTA provides for two defences to overloading , the first one being …
- (a) that at the time when the vehicle was being used on the road:
o (i) it was proceeding to the nearest available weighbridge for the purpose of being weighed
o (ii) it was proceeding from a weighbridge after being weighed to the nearest point at which it was reasonably practicable to reduce the weight to the relevant limit.
I told VOSA operative that I was going to check weigh the vehicle at the facility in the Port. There are no facilities to check axle weights on the route that I took from Spain .
So VOSA tries it on anyone else this is what to do