honest guv its not me.
I was running on the same job elsewhere, A mate of mine on Agy was running a 14 rigid fridge truck for a local firm, he ran empty over to haydock to pick up a split ambient/frozen load to deliver over to york.
The load was loaded via the back door on a bay, so he didnt get to observe the load being loaded, with the frozen being stuck on the headboard, the divider being dropped down, and the rest of the ambient loaded on the on the back. Unknown to him, they had stacked the 4 pallets worth of frozen onto 2 pallets, stacking it right up to the roof, before dropping the divider and loading the rest, but not filling it to the back it turns out that it wasnt nessesary for them to stack the frozen to the roof as there was enough space for at least 2 more pallets. He was unable to use the weightbridge on site before he leaves coz its coned off and probably fugged. So at some point on his return journey he gets pulled & weighed, and hes overweight on the front axil. with a little redistribution of the load towards the back hes able to get on his way. But not before hes given a £60 fine.
This brings me to the point, even though he`s legally responsible, who do you think should pay the £60 fine… him or the company?
I ask this because hes a semi retired guy doing a few days a week and standing the £60 fine is gonna take a big enough chunk of his wage, to hurt his pocket
peirre:
honest guv its not me.
I was running on the same job elsewhere, A mate of mine on Agy was running a 14 rigid fridge truck for a local firm, he ran empty over to haydock to pick up a split ambient/frozen load to deliver over to york.
The load was loaded via the back door on a bay, so he didnt get to observe the load being loaded, with the frozen being stuck on the headboard, the divider being dropped down, and the rest of the ambient loaded on the on the back. Unknown to him, they had stacked the 4 pallets worth of frozen onto 2 pallets, stacking it right up to the roof, before dropping the divider and loading the rest, but not filling it to the back it turns out that it wasnt nessesary for them to stack the frozen to the roof as there was enough space for at least 2 more pallets. He was unable to use the weightbridge on site before he leaves coz its coned off and probably fugged. So at some point on his return journey he gets pulled & weighed, and hes overweight on the front axil. with a little redistribution of the load towards the back hes able to get on his way. But not before hes given a £60 fine.
This brings me to the point, even though he`s legally responsible, who do you think should pay the £60 fine… him or the company?
I ask this because hes a semi retired guy doing a few days a week and standing the £60 fine is gonna take a big enough chunk of his wage, to hurt his pocket
By all sense of fairness the company should pay, but they wont, they will always blame the driver. Maybe the driver should have realised something was wrong when he needed the arms of garth to steer it.
As you are aware, overloading is an absolute offence, if he had shown he was on his way to a weighbridge somewhere near Haydock, he may have had some defence. Unfortunately we do not have consignor liability in this country, if it had been in Germany, the loaders, company and the driver would have had to answer to the overload charges
Askthe boss to pay the fine and at the same time explain to him that if he doesn’t he will never drive another load for him without going on a weighbridge. AND HE SHOULD STICK TO IT.
How would a normal weighbridge show he was overloaded on the front axle ? it would only show his total weight?
Jenson Button:
How would a normal weighbridge show he was overloaded on the front axle ? it would only show his total weight?
By split weighing, it is how VOSA do it if they do not have a Dynamic Bridge
just a note, if the approach ramps are uneven or there is a slope at each end a split weigh is less accurate!
Im not sure where he got pulled/weighed, but Im guessing the highways dept on the M6 south, just below the A580 would be a likely location.
As for my mate, he keeps asking the agy to deal with it, the Chargehand of the firm whats going on and keeps getting fobbed off, especially as the days are counting down to when he must pay as he was pulled on the 11th.
So Ive given him the mobile number and email addy of the TM for the job whos based down south, and told him to speak directly hoping he`ll resolve the problem
schrodingers cat:
Askthe boss to pay the fine and at the same time explain to him that if he doesn’t he will never drive another load for him without going on a weighbridge. AND HE SHOULD STICK TO IT.
theres a handfull of us inc me, who have on occasion done that job, in that truck and we`ve all agreed to get weighed IF we ever do it again which should be enough to annoy the bosses if the bridge is coned off at Bookers
Wheel Nut:
Maybe the driver should have realised something was wrong when he needed the arms of garth to steer it.
When I spoke to him this afternoon he said it didnt feel heavy on the front so it didnt ring alarms with him when he set off
To Split weigh a rigid you would need to have three weigh slips
1st Weigh. Front Axle at end of bridge
2nd Weigh Both Axles
3rd Weigh. Rear Axle on front of bridge
Subtract the rear axle weight from the Gross weight should give you a rough idea of the front axle weight.
It is not infallible and can be argued in court.