A driver has been prosecuted for driving an 18 tonne heavy goods vehicle through a 7.5 tonne environmental weight restriction in Easter Compton and Pilning.
Driver Gordon Dent, of West Drayton, Middlesex pleaded guilty by post to North Avon Magistrates’ Court last week (Tuesday 7 September) and was fined £250 and ordered to pay costs of £461, plus a £15 victim surcharge.
Dent was seen driving his vehicle through the weight restriction at Easter Compton on 16th March this year by an enforcement officer from South Gloucestershire Council’s trading standards team who was in the area. At the time, the driver claimed he had relied on his satellite navigation system to get him to his destination.
Cllr Heather Goddard, executive member for Communities, said: “Drivers of all vehicles should pay particular attention to road traffic signs and not just rely on their satellite navigation systems to get them from one place to another.
“The weight restriction is in place so that local people are not subjected to unnecessary noise and pollution from large vehicles.”
Mark Pullin, trading standards and licensing manager, added: “My officers, in partnership with the police, regularly conduct enforcement checks to ensure drivers of heavy goods vehicles do not breach the weight restrictions the council has imposed on its roads and bridges. If drivers take the risk of taking a short cut, they may well find themselves caught out as indeed did this driver was.”
Source: South Gloucestershire Council
