16 December 2023 , 17:34
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A huge 50 metres steel tube was shipped down one of the UK’s busiest motorways without any of the safety measures that the company promised police they would have.
A transport manager has been sacked and banned from ever holding such a role again after his company pulled the dangerous stunt. Essex Police patrols on the motorway by chance happened across the enormous "abnormal load" careening down on the back of a lorry on the M25.
However, the huge steel tubes weren’t being shipped with the previously agreed measures to keep other road users safe. Last year, the unnamed company had been helped out by the force’s Abnormal Load Officer and Commercial Vehicle Unit who put a plan in place for their movement of massive loads.
The generous agreement let the company move 40-50 metre steel tubes without having to fork out for a police escort every time. It was agreed they would move under self-escort, with additional safety measures. However, just a few days later in December 2022, the company sent one abnormal load hurtling down the M25 with no escort and none of the safety measures they had promised police.
To make things worse, enquiries revealed that the company had done this six times before being rumbled and forced to pay a £5,800 fine. The company admitted the breaches in court, leading to the transport manager being banned.
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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 £5,800 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."