part one see hear viewtopic.php?f=2&t=88651&p=1251834#p1251834
Has I dont have a case to answer for if I plead not guilty ; should I attend court to try and get off with a lighter fine
Boss & Driver:
part one see hear viewtopic.php?f=2&t=88651&p=1251834#p1251834Has I dont have a case to answer for if I plead not guilty ; should I attend court to try and get off with a lighter fine
Why don’t you have a case to answer? In the other thread you said they found you 30% over.
Or are you saying you are pleading guilty? In which case yes, attend court in your best suit with knife and fork to eat a big chunk of humble pie and it may be reduced.
You forgot to scrub your name out of 1 of the letters Mr J K B *** Not putting the full name in as it’s not fair, just to make it clear and you can edit it out without my post giving too much info away.
As advised, I’d attend court. If you’ve not got a HGV licence, maybe be a little ignorant of the weight limit and unladen weight?
Either way, be VERY sorry, and, as advised in your other thread, I hope that van is now in the big scrap yard in the sky? In which case, take that proof with you to show that you were unaware of the failures of the vehicle and made sure it wouldn’t trouble the roads again.
Expect a rather large bill, but it should only go 1 hearing if you plead guilty and explain the above, but 149 cost before the hearing + court costs + fine isn’t going to be a small amount.
It looks a pretty open-and-shut case to me, if you are overweight then you are overweight, and if you plead not guilty when you obviously are guilty, then you are just wasting everybody’s time, including yours, and all that will happen is that you will get a greater punishment for being a bit thick.
Harry Monk:
It looks a pretty open-and-shut case to me, if you are overweight then you are overweight, and if you plead not guilty when you obviously are guilty, then you are just wasting everybody’s time, including yours, and all that will happen is that you will get a greater punishment for being a bit thick.
+1
Sorry but it has to be blunt as that
Wtf other vehicle were you carrying btw ■■ An APC or something ■■?
you are guilty
30% is a massive overload
plead guilty
trannys look overload even when there not
the back end must of been sagging
RSVP
all ■■■■■■ recovery trucks are overloaded when carrying an average size car, so are easy pickings for VOSA. You’ll be lucky to find one with an unladen weight of less than 2250kg. So put a Vectra on it, fuel, tools, etc & you would be approx 500kg over…
I do hope you don’t hold an LGV license B&D! An overloading conviction is not a good thing to have when you hold a C or C+E! 
I do think your trying to wind-up the membership on here though? Troll 
At £149 for being30% overloaded I’d pay it and count myself lucky!
NickW:
At £149 for being30% overloaded I’d pay it and count myself lucky!
That is just the costs - the fine etc will be extra.
NickW:
At £149 for being30% overloaded I’d pay it and count myself lucky!
No Nick, that’s just the costs so far - the test and getting it to the 1st stage of court - it’s still got the court costs and fine to come yet 
NickW:
At £149 for being30% overloaded I’d pay it and count myself lucky!
That’s just the costs so far, the real punishment is yet to come.
NickW:
At £149 for being30% overloaded I’d pay it and count myself lucky!
NickW,
The figure of £149 is the amount of costs claimed by VOSA.
If you look near the top of the second scanned sheet, you’ll see “Fine level 5” which means that potentially, the fine could be up to a maximum of £5,000.
The law views overloading as a serious offence, so that’s why the potential fine could be up to £5,000.
My advice to Boss & Driver is that he does have a case to answer and that he should seek legal representation for the court hearing.
The idea of turning up at court, pleading ‘Not Guilty’ and then saying he doesn’t have a case to answer won’t make this go away, but it might cause the Magistrates to chuckle. Nor will “I was going to weigh it later” be accepted as mitigation. Sorry to be blunt, but B&D’s idea of the way that the justice system works is the reason why I’ve suggested that he takes proper advice before opening his mouth in court.
Boss & Driver:
Has I dont have a case to answer for if I plead not guilty ; should I attend court to try and get off with a lighter fine
To get a lighter fine you just need to plead Guilty and send in some sort of explanation of mitigating circumstances which you might hope make them look at it a bit leniently. I can’t see any point in wasting your own time to turn up to hear it.
Mike-C:
Boss & Driver:
Has I dont have a case to answer for if I plead not guilty ; should I attend court to try and get off with a lighter fineTo get a lighter fine you just need to plead Guilty and send in some sort of explanation of mitigating circumstances which you might hope make them look at it a bit leniently. I can’t see any point in wasting your own time to turn up to hear it.
I got done for being an absolute idiot years ago - 94mph in a 30 zone on a motorbike - everyone said just plead guilty, but I went to court, bent over, took a dry one, made sure they knew that I knew I was a total tool, no mitigating circumstances or explanations just plain face to face admittance that I was a pratt.
I got 6 points and a fine that was reasonable and paid in monthly payments rather than as a lump sum.
I’m 100% convinced if I just sent in a guilty plea on a piece of paper I’d have been, at the very least, banned, if not having a copper turning up to take me to my cell for a few days.
I think it’s worth being there in person, they enjoy seeing you flinch and can tell if you’ve actually realised how much you cocked up or not.
Sorry completely miss typed! I would have thought the costs for prosecution would have been even more for 30% overload as well as the vehichle damage. Sounds like it was a death trap. I fail to see how he thinks that there is no case to answer to. Plead guilty as if you go in there with a ■■■■ sure attitude that you have nothing to answer for a dim view will be taken and you’ll get the full extent of what they can impose.
waynedl:
Mike-C:
Boss & Driver:
Has I dont have a case to answer for if I plead not guilty ; should I attend court to try and get off with a lighter fineTo get a lighter fine you just need to plead Guilty and send in some sort of explanation of mitigating circumstances which you might hope make them look at it a bit leniently. I can’t see any point in wasting your own time to turn up to hear it.
I got done for being an absolute idiot years ago - 94mph in a 30 zone on a motorbike - everyone said just plead guilty, but I went to court, bent over, took a dry one, made sure they knew that I knew I was a total tool, no mitigating circumstances or explanations just plain face to face admittance that I was a pratt.
I got 6 points and a fine that was reasonable and paid in monthly payments rather than as a lump sum.
I’m 100% convinced if I just sent in a guilty plea on a piece of paper I’d have been, at the very least, banned, if not having a copper turning up to take me to my cell for a few days.
I think it’s worth being there in person, they enjoy seeing you flinch and can tell if you’ve actually realised how much you cocked up or not.
yikes, i would of thought that be straight to see big dave in the showers 
no idea if it would be the legal advice, but i think your way of standing there with no defense, just saying i ■■■■■■ up would probably be the way i go
wasn’t you on your way to a weighbridge?
if it was me, then that’s what i’d have said. (it keeps things nice and legal).
don’t feel pressured into pleading guilty to get a lesser fine, it’s a myth. solicitors and the police like to use this for a quick turn round. However, in saying that. If you’re bang to rights and the court think you’re wasting everyones time, then you’re looking at a big fine. But if they find you guilty when you believed yourself not to be guilty, then you won’t get any bigger fine than if you’d pleaded guilty in the first place.
if you hadn’t travelled very far, then i’d go for not guilty on the grounds that you were heading to a weighbridge.
if you had travelled a fair distance, then a guilty plea would have to be considered.
limeyphil:
wasn’t you on your way to a weighbridge?
if it was me, then that’s what i’d have said. (it keeps things nice and legal).
don’t feel pressured into pleading guilty to get a lesser fine, it’s a myth. solicitors and the police like to use this for a quick turn round. However, in saying that. If you’re bang to rights and the court think you’re wasting everyones time, then you’re looking at a big fine. But if they find you guilty when you believed yourself not to be guilty, then you won’t get any bigger fine than if you’d pleaded guilty in the first place.
if you hadn’t travelled very far, then i’d go for not guilty on the grounds that you were heading to a weighbridge.
if you had travelled a fair distance, then a guilty plea would have to be considered.
Phil,
There might be a slight problem with that idea…
This is from the second scanned page “Statement of Facts:”
The vehicle was loaded with a motor vehicle and on a journey from Skegness to Crick.
Mr X was asked whether it was his intention to have the vehicle weighed that day, and he replied “I was thinking of of doing it sometime later once I had taken the vehicle off.”
As you know, if you’re going to use the ‘I was on my way to a weighbridge’ defence, it needs to be within a sensible distance from the starting point of the journey. IMHO, leaving Skeggy and not having weighed your vehicle before getting even remotely near to Crick isn’t going to cut the mustard.
I’m still struggling with what the OP hoped to achieve by weighing it “after I had taken the vehicle off,” hence my earlier advice that he seeks legal representation.