Driver Escapes with an £820 Fine for an 80% Overload

Millicent Dooher, barrister, represented this driver at his sentencing hearing before the Magistrates’ Court following a guilty plea to an overloading offence. The vehicle was a 3.5 tonne vehicle, overloaded by 80%. The fines for these offences are unlimited.

Millicent was able to convince the Magistrates to deal with this matter in totality, and a fine of £820.00 only was imposed.

Any overloading offence can carry extremely large fines. The sentencing guidelines allow the Court to impose a fine for the first 10% of an overload. For any additional overload, the Court can take 10% of the fine amount for each 1% of the overload. In this case, an 80% overload could have resulted in a significant financial penalty for the driver.