there are cameras on the pubs both sides so your nicked dont try and plead you were in the wrong
any 18 tonnes limit you dont go into with an artic plenty of signs
Drivers fined for breaching bridge weight limit
By Herald Reporter »
EIGHT lorry drivers have been fined for flouting the 18-tonne weight restriction on a fragile bridge near Abingdon.
Oxfordshire County Council’s trading standards team brought the prosecutions following surveillance at the 13th-century bridge at Newbridge, near Standlake, where the A415 crosses the River Thames.
And drivers are being warned that further surveillance work will be carried out at the bridge by trading standards officers.
Banbury magistrates heard that on a number of days in October last year, the goods vehicles were seen breaching the 18-tonne weight restriction.
Eight drivers, who all pleaded guilty by post, were ordered to pay fines and costs, totalling £3,575, with the highest individual fine of £500 imposed on the driver of an articulated lorry with a plated weight of 44 tonnes.
Nigel Strick, head of trading standards, said: "These laws are put in place for a good reason. Newbridge is in serious danger from the structural damage caused by heavy vehicles and we will do all we can to make sure they are not flouted.
“The exercise in that area and others within Oxfordshire is a sign of things to come. Drivers need to understand that the 18-tonne limit applies to the vehicle’s plated weight and it makes no difference if it is unladen.”
Judith Heathcoat, the council’s cabinet member for community safety, said: "The quality of life of people who live close to busy roads can be badly affected by large vehicles thundering past their homes.
"This is especially the case when the bridge carrying the road in question has a weight restriction in force that bars many of the heavier vehicles from using it.
“Those who break these laws need to know that we will be around to watch what is happening and they run the risk of being caught.”
County engineers believe the best option is a new bridge west of the structure and the council has given the go-ahead to buy the land.
The drivers fined were: James Thomas, 62, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, fined £500 plus £125 court costs Michael Wentworth, 45, of Spencers Close, Stanford in the Vale, fined £400 plus £125 costs Wayne Saunders, 36, of Cheltenham, fined £325 plus £125 costs John Hehir, 37, of Oldbury, west Midlands, fined £325 plus £125 costs Timothy Haynes, 26, of Chipping Camden, fined £200 plus £125 costs Mathew Emms, 32, of Broadway, Worcestershire, fined £300 plus £125 costs Craig Devoe, 36, of Basingstoke, fined £265 Robert Cook, 39, of Swindon, fined £265 plus £125 costs.
