With the weight of an empty trailer of approximately 10 tons, surely you would notice how different the handling was while driving in a seat of the pants moment when you know the vehicle has a lot of weight on the rear of the trailer on the axles and most likely other motorists may have flashed their lights as a warning or sounded their horns to make him aware that something wasn’t right.
Why did the site foreman allow him to leave site with a raised trailer?
He or she is liable for healthy and safety breaches.
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Let me guess: if a site employs someone to check vehicles leaving it, a heck of a lot of TNUK will be making posts about H&S gone mad etc for checking up on we professional drivers.
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That’s true Franglais, the CPS will have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was dangerous driving which has a maximum sentence of two years custody then retake an extended driving test, plus some countries like America do not allow anyone in with driving convictions.
If he hasn’t check the mirrors is not a good practice.
We are only viewed as professional drivers when the brown stuff hits the fan and we are in trouble with the Traffic Commissioner, DVSA enforcement, and the CVU of the RPU and the general public.
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It’s only gone to Crown Court because he previously denied (at the last court hearing) he was responsible. It’s entirely his responsibility and the fact that his counsel are trying to argue “careless” rather than “dangerous” is daft by anyone’s standards.
I’ve driven enough tippers to know that it is blindingly obvious from the handling of the vehicle when the body is raised
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That’s correct Zac, all cases start at the magistrates courts who are unpaid volunteers with no legal training or experience as that’s the job description if applying to be one but they do get expenses paid.
The first appearance will be over in minutes where the plea is entered of guilty or not guilty, if he pleaded guilty at this point the magistrate would have said their powers are limited in sentencing guidelines to give a maximum of one year of custody so they automatically pass the case up to the crown who have the power for a two year custodial sentence.
By pleading not guilty at the magistrate’s will then get the case to the crown for a trial by jury, but here’s the clanger, if you lose the case at the crown and found guilty by the jury the defendant has lost the one third reduction in a custodial sentence, by pleading guilty at the crown will give a defendant a one third reduction for a prison time.
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“Mr Baker said he did not check his mirrors to see the back of his truck as he had angled them to get a wider view of the road rather than his own vehicle”
So he couldn’t see the side of his vehicle in the mirrors at all?
And, he didn’t even look?
No alarm fitted, but he didn’t see the red light on the dash.
Careless? Dangerous?
“Dangerous driving may therefore most clearly be made out by deliberate decisions to drive in a way which presents an obvious risk. This is because driving falls not just below but far below the standard of a careful and competent driver when it is deliberately bad. However, dangerous driving can also include misjudgments of the most serious degree. Whether the misjudgment was so serious as to be dangerous rather than careless is to be assessed not by the consequences which followed but by the nature of the error in all the circumstances in which it occurred.”
https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/road-traffic-fatal-offences-and-bad-driving
Not fatal, but serious damage.
The consequences are not as important as the “but by the nature of the error in all the circumstances in which it occurred”
Failing to do any check as to where the tipper body was,
looking, mirror check, warning light check,
Seems to me like not a single minor error, but a failure to do any one of at least 3 checks, all so simple and quick, any one of which would have flagged a serious problem that any competent driver would recognise.
Plus what Zac has said and I find easy to believe, that a body stuck up in the air is going to be obvious to anyone driving, all point in only one direction for me.
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A decent driver will always position the side mirrors to be able to see the tyres of the vehicle to keep an eye out for a slow puncture or any other problems.
If a trailer has the load secured with ratchet straps but not in this case, the driver will monitor the side mirrors to see if they are secure in transit and not about to fall off in to the carriageway which causes other vehicles to swerve or get punctures.
Easiest way to convict him: take each jury member on a short ride in a tipper, once with the body down, once with it raised - game over.
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I know a lad who works in a scrap yard and he forgot to lower the Hiab grab crane when leaving the yard to go on the road and pulled down the power cables, the road was shut for most of the day and power cuts in the vicinity, he was never prosecuted as he knew the policeman, so guess the file went in to the recycling bin for not in the public interest to prosecute.
Indeed, for one thing surely it would be swaying from side to side would it not?
Exactly this, the dramatically higher centre of gravity is blindingly obvious. I’d suggest he was distracted by something far more important than taking any notice of the primary task at hand.
As for the mirrors, I call BS, he’s got them set up so as he cannot relate the position of anything, in the reflected view, to the truck, or see a cyclist sneaking between his truck and the curb, while he is waiting in traffic? That being true, clearly demonstrates that he isn’t a truck driver’s fundamental orifice. Cancel his heavy vehicle licence absolutely.
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After the Crown Court has done their thing with him, he will still in the future need to go before his TC (currently Kevin Rooney I believe) to get his entitlement back, it won’t be a Tea and Biscuits scenario
I wonder what all this will do for the company’s insurance premiums â– â–
God yes, It’ll be hiked to the max, probably insist on mandatory driver training too before they even think of insuring them
https://www.trucknetuk.com/t/woman-killed-by-lorry-in-altrincham/108829
From old thread fella drove hiab with legs out hit a lamppost killed somebody
Got 4 years after appeal went to 7.
As far as am aware tipper driver didn’t kill anyone.
So doubt he will get much of a sentence… Probably loose his licence. On this job
Be interesting to hear the outcome.
On note about insurance obviously that’s what it’s there for. Hope it affects his future car insurance as well as he was driving and seems to have ignored all the warnings that something wasnt right .
In a way feel sorry for company involved as this will cost them a lot. Maybe put them out of business because of what happened.
Not there fault the driver did what he did
The Bristol case is at Crown Court, but here are the sentencing guidelines for the Magistrates.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/dangerous-driving/
Obviously he may be not guilty of Dangerous driving, that is up to the jury, and if guilty the sentence will depend on the judge