In 1996, a ten-tonne truck carrying a 20-tonne load of gravel ran out of control down a steep hill in Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire. It crashed into a van, then smashed into a shop and wall. The 63 year-old truck driver and 42 year-old van driver were both killed, as were four pedestrians, including a two-year-old girl.<\/p>\n
The truck was found to have faulty brakes. The prosecution told the court that the brakes on all four of the vehicles axles were defective. It said the brake drums and shoes on the front axle of the lorry were excessively worn on both sides. One brake lining was worn down to the rivets and a cam was also defective.<\/p>\n
The only successful charge against the company was a failure to maintain the brakes, resulting in a fine of \u00a35,000. However, the bereaved families fought successfully in court to overturn the Crown Prosecution Services decision not to bring a charge of manslaughter against the company. However, when the company was eventually charged with manslaughter, the evidence the CPS had collected was not sufficient to convict. The government is currently developing a new charge of corporate manslaughter (2006) which it hopes will mean more offending companies can be successfully prosecuted with this serious charge.<\/p>\n
Article taken from Fleet Safety Forum News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1996, a ten-tonne truck carrying a 20-tonne load of gravel ran out of control down a steep hill in Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n