Manager sacked and banned from haulage job after being caught shipping huge 50-metre steel tube without safety measures
A transport manager has been sacked and banned from holding such a role ever again after being caught shipping a whopping 50-metre steel tube without safety measures in place. Essex Police patrols on the M25 motorway discovered the enormous, ‘abnormal load’ being shipped via lorry without previously agreed measures to keep other road users safe, EssexLive reports.[1] The police’s Force Abnormal Load Officer and Commercial Vehicle Unit worked with a company’s transport manager to plan the movement of an abnormal load last year.
It was agreed that a company, which has not been named, could move 40-50 metre steel tubes under self-escort, subject to additional safety measures being undertaken by the company. The measures were designed to keep Essex roads and users safe as well as providing the haulier ‘maximum flexibility and a significant cost saving’ by not having to pay for police escorts. But just a few days later in December 2022, an abnormal load was witnessed by two officers travelling along the M25, without any of the extra safeguards in place.
A spokesman for the police said: “Enquiries showed that the company had undertaken six movements in the preceding days, all of which breached the carefully planned dispensation. A Commercial Vehicle Investigator-led prosecution against the transport manager resulted in him admitting the breaches at magistrates’ court and was fined GBP5,800 for permitting overweight vehicles using the road network on all those occasions. “This case was then passed to the Traffic Commissioners Office in Leeds where on Wednesday December 6, the transport manager was banned for life from holding a similar position for any other haulage company and dismissed from his company role.”
Sergeant Jason Dearsley, who heads the Commercial Vehicle Unit, said: “My unit’s role is to educate HGV drivers and operators to ensure road safety, respond to incidents on the strategic road network and keep unsafe vehicles off the road. We work with partners such DVSA and the Traffic Commissioner’s Office to uphold those high standards and enforce breaches of road safety legislation. “Checks are used to keep unsafe vehicles off the road and that vehicles are not breaking any rules and regulations: this includes checking authorised load weights and type of load permitted, checking vehicles for roadworthiness and mechanical faults.
The underlying principle of everything that we do is safety – to keep all road users safe.
“Where there is a blatant disregard for the law that puts people at risk, we won’t hesitate to enforce the law.
Essex Police’s Commercial Vehicle Unit are committed to engaging positively with hauliers and drivers to help keep their businesses running, but it’s unacceptable to simply ignore a dispensation set up together to support a company as well as protect the road users of our county.”
References
- ^ EssexLive reports. (www.essexlive.news)
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