Words Fail Me!!!!!

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

PUBLISHED: January 24, 2015 07:59
Truck driver fined after shedding unsecure load and closing the A5 on the Shropshire border
A busy road was closed and it took more than two hours to clear after a load of chipboard being carried from a factory on the Shropshire border fell off the back of a lorry, a court heard.

stock-image-COURTS.xml
Latest courts news

The boards valued at £8,000 had not been secured at the Kronospan factory in Chirk and came off the curtain sided Scania articulated truck at the nearby Whitehurst roundabout on the A5.

Truck driver Stephen Arthur Griffiths, 55, was dismissed on his first day driving for the L E Jones haulage company at Ruthin following the spillage.

He claimed he had not realised that he had lost his load and continued driving.

A motorist who witnessed the incident stopped him and told him what had happened and pointed out that the side curtains of the vehicle trailer were ripped.

But after examining the trailer, Griffiths decided to continue with the remainder of the load to Liverpool, got lost, and was stopped on the M6 motorway by police.

Flintshire Magistrates Court at Mold was told that the road was closed and it took two hours for a group of 15 workers from Kronospan to remove the 17 tonnes of chipboard

Griffiths, who lives in a flat in Bath Street in Rhyl, admitted carrying an insecure load likely to cause a danger, failing to stop and failing to report the accident on July 16 last year.

He escaped with a £100 fine – £50 for the insecure load and £50 for failing to stop.

He received no separate penalty for failing to report the accident and was ordered to pay £105 in costs. Five penalty points were put on his licence.

Magistrates said that he had learnt a hard lesson and that he should check his load in future.

The defendant had been arrested and appeared from custody after he failed to attend an earlier hearing but Mr Phillip Lloyd Jones, for Griffiths, said that his client had not known about the proceedings because the paper work had been sent to another address.

Mrs Helen Tench, prosecuting, said that it was in the middle of the day that the lorry shed its load but the driver drove on. A member of the public raised the alarm and when the transport manager from Kronospan attended the scene he found that 17 tonnes of the load valued at £8,000 was in the road and it took 15 workers two hours to clear up the debris. It was a total loss, she said.

When stopped on the M6 the vehicle was taken to a place of safety, the employers were contacted and another driver was sent to pick it up.

Mr Lloyd Jones said it was his client’s case that he had received no instructions on his first day in the job but was told to take the tractor unit of the truck to the factory to pick up a trailer which was already loaded.

When he got there he was shown the trailer and hitched it up. But he accepted that he was responsible as the driver of the vehicle and should have checked if the load had been properly secured.

2

Waiting for the first screwdriver comment :smiley:

3

Jeeze … don’t let Rookie07 read this :unamused: He’s the poster that was going to load @ Formica in Teesport :laughing: :laughing:

4

I’m always the first to say that it’s nonsense to suggest that every load you can carry on an artic needs strapping, but I load at Kronospan myself and I can’t begin to imagine how anybody could drive out of the gates without the load being strapped to within an inch of its life.

5

If it wasn’t true it would be funny :smiley: you just couldn’t make it up could you. On a serious note though it goes to show you what fools are out on the road in charge of 44 tons, scary!! How do you lose 17 tone without knowing?!?!? However to be then told, check the lorry and simply drive on before getting lost and stopped by plod is unbelievable!

6

And not even agency…

7

Conor:
And not even agency…

He is now. :laughing:

8

Contraflow:

Conor:
And not even agency…

He is now. :laughing:

He’s just what they are looking for :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

9

He’s around the same age as me, I just wonder how long he has been in the job, you could understand it being a 21 yr old newbie, but whether he is experienced or not, you would think at 55 he would have acquired enough common sense to at least look in the back of the trailer. It’s got to the stage where nothing surprises me about some ‘‘drivers’’ today.

On a similar theme I know a guy that was told to pick up an empty trailer and take it to load, via across the tops from Glasgow to ■■■■■■■■
He backed under did not check it, got to the destination and discovered it had 25 ton of concrete blocks on, and unstrapped :smiley: .
Apart from it being insecure he evidently could not tell the difference between pulling a loaded and empty trailer :open_mouth:

10

So was fined £100,£50 for insecure load & £50 for failing to stop.
Well that just proves that drivers who say that it’s £100 fine for every pallet you don’t strap if vosa catch you is pure bull shine.
This guy chucks his load out of the trailer and gets £100 fine.
I must admit iv been in that place my self and that board does move and no way would I have not ratchet straped that load.

11

He escaped with a £100 fine – £50 for the insecure load and £50 for failing to stop.

He received no separate penalty for failing to report the accident and was ordered to pay £105 in costs. Five penalty points were put on his licence

Magistrates said that he had learnt a hard lesson

Those 3 statements really don’t go :laughing:

His first day, 17ton eh wood falls out and rips his curtain and he doesn’t notice that kind of event. A member of the public stops him to tell what has happened but then continues up the road with the rest of the load still unsecured but now with a bloody great hole in the curtain.

What is worrying, very worrying this guy gets to keep his vocational licence after it, that is scary as ■■■■!

12

yorkshire terrier:
So was fined £100,£50 for insecure load & £50 for failing to stop.
Well that just proves that drivers who say that it’s £100 fine for every pallet you don’t strap if vosa catch you is pure bull shine.
This guy chucks his load out of the trailer and gets £100 fine.
I must admit iv been in that place my self and that board does move and no way would I have not ratchet straped that load.

Although to be fair, VOSA/DVSA do not appear to have been involved here - Police attended, reported him for summons and the fines were handed down by the magistrates court.

13

Roymondo:

yorkshire terrier:
So was fined £100,£50 for insecure load & £50 for failing to stop.
Well that just proves that drivers who say that it’s £100 fine for every pallet you don’t strap if vosa catch you is pure bull shine.
This guy chucks his load out of the trailer and gets £100 fine.
I must admit iv been in that place my self and that board does move and no way would I have not ratchet straped that load.

Although to be fair, VOSA/DVSA do not appear to have been involved here - Police attended, reported him for summons and the fines were handed down by the magistrates court.

So, to sum up, VOSA have no need to issue penalties, leave it to the courts, just like it had always been.

14

Roymondo:

yorkshire terrier:
So was fined £100,£50 for insecure load & £50 for failing to stop.
Well that just proves that drivers who say that it’s £100 fine for every pallet you don’t strap if vosa catch you is pure bull shine.
This guy chucks his load out of the trailer and gets £100 fine.
I must admit iv been in that place my self and that board does move and no way would I have not ratchet straped that load.

Although to be fair, VOSA/DVSA do not appear to have been involved here - Police attended, reported him for summons and the fines were handed down by the magistrates court.

Would not the traffic commission now get involved regarding the driver receiving points and fines, would that affect his vocational licence?

15

Roymondo:

yorkshire terrier:
So was fined £100,£50 for insecure load & £50 for failing to stop.
Well that just proves that drivers who say that it’s £100 fine for every pallet you don’t strap if vosa catch you is pure bull shine.
This guy chucks his load out of the trailer and gets £100 fine.
I must admit iv been in that place my self and that board does move and no way would I have not ratchet straped that load.

Although to be fair, VOSA/DVSA do not appear to have been involved here - Police attended, reported him for summons and the fines were handed down by the magistrates court.

Fair comment but I really can’t understand how they ain’t been involved given it looks like it made the press.
Every time iv been in that kronospan they have been keen on load security and there were notices all over the place telling you to secure the load.

16

merc0447:

He escaped with a £100 fine – £50 for the insecure load and £50 for failing to stop.

He received no separate penalty for failing to report the accident and was ordered to pay £105 in costs. Five penalty points were put on his licence

Magistrates said that he had learnt a hard lesson

Those 3 statements really don’t go :laughing:

His first day, 17ton eh wood falls out and rips his curtain and he doesn’t notice that kind of event. A member of the public stops him to tell what has happened but then continues up the road with the rest of the load still unsecured but now with a bloody great hole in the curtain.

What is worrying, very worrying this guy gets to keep his vocational licence after it, that is scary as [zb]!

The TC may still want to have tea and biscuits with him yet…

17

waynedl:

merc0447:

He escaped with a £100 fine – £50 for the insecure load and £50 for failing to stop.

He received no separate penalty for failing to report the accident and was ordered to pay £105 in costs. Five penalty points were put on his licence

Magistrates said that he had learnt a hard lesson

Those 3 statements really don’t go :laughing:

His first day, 17ton eh wood falls out and rips his curtain and he doesn’t notice that kind of event. A member of the public stops him to tell what has happened but then continues up the road with the rest of the load still unsecured but now with a bloody great hole in the curtain.

What is worrying, very worrying this guy gets to keep his vocational licence after it, that is scary as [zb]!

The TC may still want to have tea and biscuits with him yet…

I hope it’s a short chat about his “permanent retiring” from vocational driving …Ye gods you could not make it up, the list of what he should have seen felt or been aware of is endless and he failed totally. Please please take his licence.

18

yorkshire terrier:

Roymondo:

yorkshire terrier:
So was fined £100,£50 for insecure load & £50 for failing to stop.
Well that just proves that drivers who say that it’s £100 fine for every pallet you don’t strap if vosa catch you is pure bull shine.
This guy chucks his load out of the trailer and gets £100 fine.
I must admit iv been in that place my self and that board does move and no way would I have not ratchet straped that load.

Although to be fair, VOSA/DVSA do not appear to have been involved here - Police attended, reported him for summons and the fines were handed down by the magistrates court.

Fair comment but I really can’t understand how they ain’t been involved given it looks like it made the press.
Every time iv been in that kronospan they have been keen on load security and there were notices all over the place telling you to secure the load.

I am sure as the police stopped him its a police issue and pointless VOSA getting involved because I am sure you cant be prosecuted for the same offence twice .Although the TC may want to take action against his vocational license and that can only be done after he has been found guilty

19

robroy:
He’s around the same age as me, I just wonder how long he has been in the job, you could understand it being a 21 yr old newbie, but whether he is experienced or not, you would think at 55 he would have acquired enough common sense to at least look in the back of the trailer. It’s got to the stage where nothing surprises me about some ‘‘drivers’’ today.

He just sounds like an idiot mate. I used to load chipboard regularly in Menznau in Switzerland, also a Kronospan factory as it happens and take it back to England. It was a bugger of a load but 18 straps or so would usually keep it in place reasonably well but even then each individual sheet of wood within each pack would have slipped and slided a bit. I can’t imagine not comprehensively strapping down such a load with proper spansets and I was doing that job from the age of 22. As you suggest though, his age probably has no bearing on his experience. He may have only been doing the job for a year, or he may have been a driver for 30 years but spent the entire time on fridges or containers etc. Its often the case that a long serving driver who’s entire experience is in one particular field, will be more complacent in another job than a complete newbie who is worried about messing up and not suffering from a false sense of security. Having said all that, he obviously suffers from some kind of mental issues if once stopped and made aware of his shed load, he just carried on with what little was left.

20

… A5 Roundabout again. Bet the guy I knew from a previous traffic office, now in Kronospn’s office dreads
every ’ no-respect-for-the-load ’ like him. Another ’ God’s gift ’ to the Road Haulage Industry :open_mouth: :unamused: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: