The driver of a dangerously-loaded skip lorry who was stopped on the M4 has been handed more than £800 in fines.
At around 2.15pm on Saturday (18/12) we received a call from a member of the public who had seen a lorry travelling between Junction 18 and 17 of the motorway with what they believed to be a very insecure load.
Officers located the vehicle, which had three skips loaded onto it, at Leigh Delamere services and escorted the driver to Badbury, where the lorry was inspected.
It was found to have torn straps, the wrong type of hooks, and the body of the skips were rusted around the hooks as well.
When the officers spoke to the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency they concluded that there were a wide range of offences.
These included the driver having no MOT, no driver’s card, and the condition of the load was deemed to be dangerous.
The driver, a 52-year-old man, was handed £880 in fines, given a notice telling him to have the tacho calibrated and the vehicle was seized.
Sergeant Will Ayres, from Wiltshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit, said: “Thanks to this eagle-eyed member of the public we were able to quickly locate the vehicle and the driver and carry out the necessary checks.
“It is clear that this situation posed a real risk to other road users and we are just grateful that we were able to intervene before serious harm was caused.
“Anyone who drives these types of vehicles has a duty to ensure their load is road-worthy and there are strict rules they need to be following to ensure they are operating in a safe way.”
