18
June
2014
|
15:23
Europe/London

Road weight limit breach lorry drivers fined a total of £2,298

Sean Reeder, of Down Barns Road, Ruislip, pleaded guilty to breaching seven weight restrictions during a journey which took him from the M40 at Thame to an address in Didcot and back via Long Wittenham and Clifton Hampden on 30 September last year. The 35-year-old was fined a total of £700, £100 for each offence committed.

Four drivers flouted Watlington weight restriction

Walter Gascoyne, 27, of Bridge View, Shefford, admitted driving a heavy goods vehicle weighing up to 44 tonnes through the 7.5 tonne restriction at the B4009 in Watlington on 3 October 2013. He was fined £266, while Neil Williams, 42, of Lime Tree Close, Luton, was found guilty in his absence after not responding to a court summons and fined £400 for breaching the same restriction on 29 January this year.

Michael Donson, 44, of Gervase Avenue, Sheffield, and Stephen Williams, 46, of Kinross Crescent, Luton, were each fined £266 after admitting driving vehicles weighing up to 18 tonnes each through the same Watlington restriction this year on 26 February and 11 February respectively. 

Miroslaw Arciszewski, 35, of Winchester Gardens, Luton, whose case was proven after he failed to respond to a court summons, breached the three tonne Shabbington Bridge near Thame restriction on 26 February this year in a vehicle weighing up to 18 tonnes. He was fined £400.

All of the cases were dealt with at Oxford Magistrates' Court on Monday 16 June, where a total of £780 in costs were awarded to the county council. The drivers were also ordered to pay a combined £172 in victim surcharges.

Three drivers were spotted committing offences by members of the public who reported what they had seen online to the county council. The other three were seen by Trading Standards officers on patrol.

An irresponsible act

Richard Webb, the county council's Trading Standards Team Manager, said: "Weight restrictions are there for very good reasons either to protect bridges that have become structurally weakened or where the use of roads by heavy goods vehicles could result in the risk of accidents, damage to the roads and generally detracts from the amenities of residents."

Conviction should be a warning to others

Mr Webb added: "It may be tempting for drivers to flout the rules in order to take a short-cut, but it's always better to take the long and legal way round to ensure other road users' safety and to avoid getting a criminal conviction.

"I hope these cases act as a warning to other drivers who might be thinking of ignoring weight restrictions across Oxfordshire."

The breach of road weight restriction charges faced by the six drivers were based on the maximum permitted weight of the lorry rather than its actual weight.

Anybody wanting to report a vehicle they think has flouted a road weight can limit can report their concerns to Oxfordshire County Council's Trading Standards team via this link.