I contacted the forum a couple of months ago for driving tips for a tour of the Baltic states that we under took. The help and support was amazing, so I am back.
On our drive back to the UK from Moscow (last sow of the tour) we had made great progress and I was delighted to be on time for the 11pm from the Hook. On turning into the terminal I noticed smoke from a trailer axle. Closer inspection revealed a failed wheel bearing (bad) so I limped onto the ferry. Once back in the UK (Harwich) I pulled into the trailer repair place right there on the docks.
They told me that the parts would take days and that the best option was to take off both pairs of wheels, deflate the air bags and strap up the axle for a trip home (Midlands) at reduced speed. We had mad it to within 50 miles of base (A14 / A1 intersection) when a roving traffic car stopped at the lights next to us. On seeing the missing wheels he pulled me into the services to see if I was aware they were missing. I explained the events and one of the two officers was satisfied, commenting that they had seen me driving at 35 mph before the lights. The second officer decided that even though all of my documentation was in order me wanted VOSA to take a look at the truck.
To facilitate this they had me follow them up the A1 to the VOSA station. The truck was inspected, and the situation explained and three of the four officer were understanding and happy with both our actions and the condition / paperwork for our vehicle, sadly the fourth said that we needed to drive over the scale.
The long and the short of it is that as I was 26 tonnes all up on the ferry, I was now 43% over the stated limit for the remaining axle on the trailer.
My question is two fold:
1st, did I break the law in strapping the axle and driving back to base to effect repairs?
2nd, anyone know a good VOSA knowledgeable lawyer?
Important notes:
The truck and trailer in question are registered as special types, and are specially adapted to carry the BIGFOOT monster truck, and this is all they do…
supertrux:
The long and the short of it is that as I was 26 tonnes all up on the ferry, I was now 43% over the stated limit for the remaining axle on the trailer.
My question is two fold:
1st, did I break the law in strapping the axle and driving back to base to effect repairs?
2nd, anyone know a good VOSA knowledgeable lawyer?
It certainly seems from what you’ve said that they were all happy enough with the strapped up axle, although to be honest that does surprise me given the distance travelled.
The overloading is, however, an absolute offence and 43% is quite a significant overload. If they is all they are trying to do you for then I would suggest you just pay up as the only way I would think you would stand a chance of leniency is if you were going literally a handful of miles from the place you had broken down to somewhere to be repaired.
As far as I’m aware then strapping an axle, providing it is done safely, is not illegal. I have done it with an empty low loader on a couple of occasions due to wheel bearing failure and its never been questioned, even by attending traffic officers. Technically you are just removing an axle from the road in the same way as a lift axle would.
Having removed an axle from the road you are then liable to ensure your vehicle is legal regarding axle weights for the remaining axles in contact with the road. Were you just limping around the corner you might have got some leniency but harwich to Birmingham is hardly that now, is it?.
It looks like you got a VOSA officer who could think a little outside the box and although as you said, they were happy with the strapped axle, he wondered about axle weights on the remaining axles. As the bridge showed a 43% overload on the remaining trailer axle his hunch was obviously a good one.
Are you simply being prosecuted for the axle overload or also travelling with the strapped axle?. If just for the overload then as stated is is an absolute offence and to be honest you’d need some crack legal team to get you off an overload of that magnitude.
I think you’ve just got to accept your bang to rights regarding the overload and I think that any kind of resistance will just cost you more in be long run. Put it down to experience and pay the fine.
Probably not what you want to hear but I can’t see any reasonable argument that would go in your favour.
I would think you would have mitigation if the axle wasnt overloaded beyond its design weight, Ive been pulled for being slightly over the axle weight on a tandem trailer but it did have 10 tonne axles so I was given a free pardon and the keys to the city of london…the last bit I made up
Does the trailer have ABS?
On most 3 axle trailers, 2 axles have ABS sensors/exciter rings. The thrid is often a lift axle.
On your 2 axle trailer I would think both axles would have ABS, if fitted.
Although as others say, what you’ve done is no different than lifting a lift axle, if the axle you lift has ABS then it’ll unsettle the system and it won’t work correctly. That in itself could get you prosecuted.
Then there’s the load sensing valve, was the lifted axle attached to the load sensing valve, or did that axle’s airbags have pressure switches fitted? If the former, then the LSV might think that because the axle is so high up, it’s heavily overloaded and full brake force is required. If the latter, then it’s detecting no pressure in the airbags and hence no load = minimal brake effort.
43% is a lot to be overloaded, and would almost certainly win someone a prohibition. I’m amazed they’ve let you go like that to be honest.
Thanks for all the points you raised. For the sake of clarity, I was not trying to dodge the fine so much as find out what to do if it happens again.
Our trailer is a tandem axle that is extensively modified to carry BIGFOOT and its tyres, so transferring the load to another vehicle is NOT easy. Added to this I had blown the engine in the monster truck at the last event in Russia, so loading and unloading was a HUGE pain needing winches etc.
I checked the details on the trailer plate and the overload on the single axle was not beyond the design weight for that axle. The entire rig (tractor and trailer) only grosses 26000KG so the maths looked OK when we worked it out…
I will wait for the paperwork to arrive, and see where we go.
Thanks again for all the help, its a real bonus to a owner driver like me to be able to reach out to you guys…
I have read your post and your website, very interesting. I found the photo of your vehicle carrier and see what you mean about specialist.
As long as the VOSA are not going to come out with some charges of dangerous parts, I am afraid an overload is inevitable.
In mitigation it may help if you can get a letter from the garage in Harwich who advised you to strap it up and parts were not available. You could also mention the charity work you do and the looks on the faces of those little Russian orphans
