A WEIGHTY consignment of frozen meat has proved costly for a delivery driver and the company employing him.

The driver of the Mercedes Sprinter, Michael Holding, and his employers, Theo’s Food Company, both from Staffordshire, left court in County Durham with a combined legal bill amounting to more than £3,700.

They fell foul of trading standards regulations relating to the load limits for operating vehicles.

Trading standards officers from Durham County Council carried out an inspection of the van after it was stopped while travelling on the A19, in east Durham, in December last year.

The vehicle was escorted to a weighbridge, near Wingate, where its total weight was found to be 37.7 per cent over the legal limit.

Its rear axle was found to be 47.6 per cent above the permitted weight limit.

Holding told the officers he was aware of the gross and axle weight limits for the van, but said he did not have a full understanding of regulations.

He said that he had watched the vehicle being loaded but did not weigh it at any point during the journey.

Holding also said his employer, for whom he had worked for four years, had not given him instructions about weighing the vehicle.

Theodosis Gavriel, who spoke on behalf of the company, said that they had tried to fulfil an order due to bad weather and had not realised that the van was overloaded.

He said that the company, based at Empire Industrial Estate, in Aldridge, Staffordshire, has now introduced changes to its ordering system to enable staff to discover if their vehicles are overweight.

Gavriel entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company at a hearing at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court.

Holding, 47, of Sycamore Place, Burntwood, Staffordshire, also attended and put in a guilty plea.

The company was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £378 costs as well as a statutory surcharge of £170.

Holding was fined £180 and was ordered to pay a £30 surcharge.

Joanne Waller, the council’s head of environment, health and consumer protection, said: “It is the joint responsibility of both the driver of a vehicle and their employer to ensure a vehicle is not overloaded, both for the driver’s own safety and that of other road users.

“Overloading can put a massive strain on a vehicle’s tyres, causing them to overheat and wear out rapidly which, in turn, increases the risk of a blowout.”

She added that overloading can also make a vehicle less stable, difficult to steer and take longer to stop.