Legal

ESSEX

At the Dunmow Maigstrates' Court held at Saffron Walden on 21st December 1977 Infra-Freight Services Ltd . of Unit B, Court Farm Estate, Northumberland Close, Stanwell, Middlesex pleaded guilty to the following charges:

1). Failed to carry on a vehicle conveying imflammable liquids a suitable and efficient fire extinguisher .

Contrary to Regulation 6 of the Inflammable Liquids (Conveyance by Road) Regulations 1971 .

2). Failed to furnish a copy of the above Regulations to their employee engaged in the conveyance of imflammable liquids .

Contrary to Regulation 7 of the above Regulations Both these charges being contrary to Section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work etc . Act 1974.

The charges were prosecuted by N.S.Parish of the Consumer & Public Protection Department of the Essex County Council .and the company were fined £200 on each charge and costs of £20.50 were awarded to the prosecution . The charges arose as result of an incident which occurred at Dunmow on 12th September 1977 when a flat bodied vehicle was carrying 281 drums each containing 20Kgs . of printers ink from Watford to Harwich for onward shipping, to Finland . Whilst travelling through

Dunmow High Street , a busy shopping area , the driver heard a· bang and saw that a drum had fallen from his vehicle, and he also saw that the vehicle was alight just to the rear of hiS cab. Realising that a dangeroud situation could arise should hiS vehicle and drums explode he courageously drove about 2 miles from

W Where he stopped and started Dunmo 11 the drums from the vehicle . to pu

He S wa overcome by smoke and was 11 d pu e Suddenl clear y the by another dr fuel tank of i ver the . h· 1 ve l C e 1 exp 0 ded and many of the drums caught . fire resulting in the vehicle becomlng a total losS in the intense heat

Bloomfield on behalf of the company stated that apparently some petrol was mixed with the diesel fuel in the vehicle's tank and this had caused the engine to become very hot . However it was a matter of conjecture as to how the ignition occurred.

During investigations the manufacturers informed the County Council that the ink contained methylated spirits, ethyl acetate and propyl acetate. All the drums remaining were found to be correctly labelled.

The company contracted by telephone with a shipping agency to carry the load and it was stated on their behalf that if they had realised that the load was inflammable they would not have undertaken the conveyance.

On announcing the fines the Chairman of the Magistrates commented that the company had been negligent .

Keeping

At Brentwood Court on 18th January 1978 Kenneth Charles Tydeman, a tanker driver was charged with -

1. Keeping petroleum-spirit in a vessel not bearing the characters "petroleum spirit" and "highly inflammable" in contravention of 4 of the Petroleum-Spirit (Motor VehicleS etc.) Regulations 1929.

2 . Keeping 47 gallons of petroleumspirit in more than 2 vessels each of which exceeded 2 gallonS in capacity and situated less than 20' from a building in contravention of Regulation 8 of the above regulations .

3 . Keeping petroleum-spirit in a vessel exceeding 2 gallons capacity such vessel being of a capacity of at least 5 gallons and not being in the fuel tank of a motor vehicle, motor boat, aircraft or e ngine without complying with the conditions of Regulation 7 of the above regulations .

Tydeman was fined £10 in respect of charge No . I, £50 in respect of charge No . 2 and £50 in respect of

charge No.3 and costs of £16 towards the cost of sampling were awarded to the prosecution .

All charges being contrary to Section 33(1)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Etc . Act 1974.

These charges arose as a result of a complaint that Mr Tydeman was storing fuel in his garage next to his house. A jOint visit by police and customs officials revealed the presence of 47 gallons of Toluene stored in 11 containers. Samples taken by the customs officials from Mr . Tydeman's car showed that the Toluene was being used as a motor ·fuel and appropriate action was taken by them without recourse to the courts.

Mr. Tydeman admitted that he had saved t he drainings from his tanker over a considerable period and allege d that had he not done so the Toluene would have been disposed of as waste.

GREATER LONDON COUNCIL

Broken faucet

The driver of a t a nk wagon petrol to an Enfie ld filling stat ion opene d the foot v a lves to compartme nts before connecting f illing hoses. He then connected one hose to a storage tank . Finding that h e was not ne ar enough to connect another hose to another tank he deci de d to move the tank wagon nearer to the tank . In doing so he ran over the connected hose , the faucet on the outlet pipe snapped and some 770 gallons of petrol flowed onto the forecourt . About 400 gallons was retained in a f orecourt intercept or, but most of the remainder of the spillage was washed into the sewe rs during flushing Operations. As a consequence of his contrave ntion of No . 15(a) o f the Pet r o l eum Spiri t (Conveyance by Road ) Regul a tions t he driver was f ined £50 wi th £20 costs a t Tottenham Magi st r a t es' Court. In fi x ing the pena lty the Magistra t es took i nto account t he man ' s suspension from work .

Heavy f ines When i nvestigating a s me ll of petrol in an office bui l ding ne xt door to a West End filling station the inspector noticed that caps were missing from the disused dip pipes of two storage tanks and the off-set filling pipes to the tanks were not numbered . Both tanks were provided with contents gauges . Proceedings were taken against the licensee, and as a result the company was fined £400 for each of two infringements of the licence and £200 for each of the two contraventions of the Petroleum Spirit (Conveyance by Road) Regulations at Bow Street Magistrates' Court. Costs of £lob were awarded to the Council .

the course of the investigation the petrol installation at the licensed premises was tested; one tank failed the test .

Chemical incident

Following the receipt of a report of a chemical incident involving the partia l collapse of a lorry load of me tal and plastiC drums of flammable liquids in course of conveyance inspec tion revealed that the vehic le did not bear the sta tutory labe l and tha t no f ire extinguisher was carri ed. Two firemen who attended t he incident r ecei ved burns to their hands.

As a consequence at Camberwell Magistrates' Court a Wiltshire transport firm was fined £150 for the breach of No : 4 of the Inflammable Substances (Conveyance by Road)(Labelling) Regulations 1971 and £150 for the bre ach of No .6 of the Inflammable Liquids (Conveyance by Road) Regulations 1971 . Costs of £40 were awarded to the Counci 1

Unlicense d keepings A firm of shoe manufacturers was fined £200 with £10 costs at Thames Petty Sessions for . keeplng . about . h-

46 gallons of pet r oleum ml -turX e Wl t out a licence in a small factory workroom in Tower Hamle ts

Unauthorised keepi ng For keeping abou O t 4 lIons ga of petro . l eum mixture in a Harrow co a n l tra ice v n enti see on was of f i a ne 1 · enlC d £30 ce co . t0 Wl ndltlon h £60 costs at Hendon Magistrates ' Court The l icensee had pr evious ly been cautioned for unauthorised keeping in t he wor kshop.

On 9th July 1977 the Hampshire Fire Brigade received a call to a parked lorry in winchester. Liquid was said to be leaking from a tank on the back of the lorry, and this proved eventually to be a water-based fertilizer. The officer in charge of the incident noticed, however, that seven 40 gallon drums were also on the lorry, and these were marked 'AVGAS'. No hazard warning notices were displayed, nor did the lorry comply with Conveyance Regulations. A Fire Prevention Officer attended, and photographs were taken. Samples of the 'AVGAS' were also taken. (a) in a 7 cwt. van which did not comply with the provisions relating to vehicle construction of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Petroleum

Spirit (Conveyance by Road)

Regulations, 1957 (b) in a vehicle without carrying a fire extinguisher (Regulation 6) (c) otherwise than in a vessel which was securely closed so as to prevent leakage (3 offences) (Regulation 23(1» (d) otherwise than in a vessel which was of metal and in good condition (2 offences) (Regulation 23(1»

Subsequently the owners of the lorry Moreland Beazley (Helicopters) Limited were charged on 4th January 1978 'at Winchester Magistrates with the following offences:-

1. Failing to mark the drums 'Petroleum

Spirit', Highly Inflammable' and with the name and address of the owner.

2. Failing to provide a fire-resisting cover over the load.

3. Failing to acquaint the driver of the vehicle with the Conveyance

Regulations and the Conveyance by

Road (Labelling) Regclations.

4. Failing to provide a means for cutting off the electrical supply close to the battery. 5. Not providing a guard for the vehicle's fuel and not providing a lock for the 'cap of the fuel tank.

6. Failing to provide a fire resisting shield to within 12 inches of the ground between the engine and battery, and the body of the vehicle.

7. Failing to display the prescribed notices at the front and rear o£ the vehicle. The Company pleaded guilty to all charges and were fined a total of £600, with £65. 75 costs.

HUMBERSIDE

Conveyance At Scunthorpe Magistrates Court on 19th January, 1978 Woodhall Duckham Ltd., constructional contractors, of The Boulevard, Crawley, Sussex pleaded uilty to a total of 18 charges under Regulations as fol10ws:(e) in incorrectly marked containers (11 offences) (Regulation 5 of

Imflammable Substance Conveyance by Road) (Labelling) Regulations 1971. The ccmpany was not represented at Court· and the case was proved. Fines of £10 on each of the 11 charges under the Inflammable Substances (Conveyance by Road) (Labelling) Regulations 1971 and £30 on each of the 7 charges under the Petroleum Spirit (Conveyance by Road)" Regulations 1957, totalling £320.

The facts briefly were that on 28th May 1977 the van was seen on a garage forecourt to be loaded with a number of cans which had been filled from one of the pumps. The van was foliowed to a building site under construction by the defendant company. The petrol was to be used to fill the tanks of site vehicles although none was to be stored in the site.

Faulty Tank Wagon

On 23rd September 1977 at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court, Chartermoor Petroleum Limited of Pelican Yard, 61, Hermitage Wall, London E.l pleaded to three charges involving the1r tank wagon registration mark LMD 654P.

The charges were:-

(a)

(b)

(c) Leaking draw-off tap (Regulation 11 of 1957 RegUlations). Plug connector of lighting circuit not insulated (Paragraph 2(b) of 1st Schedule 1957 Regulations). No flame symbol (Regulation 4(1) of 1971 Regulations).

Fines of £100.00 were imposed on each of the first two charges with £25 .00 on the last. Fifteen pounds costs were awarded. Their driver Mr H. Childs also pleaded guilty to identical charges under (b) and (c) and fines of £50.00 and £10.00 respectively were imposed with £5 . 00 costs. A further charge under (a) was wi thdrawn .

Carrying Matches A tank wagon driver was fined £10.00 with £5.0( costs by the West MaIling Maigstrates on 27th September after pleading guilty to a charge of carrying matches on a vehicle conveying petrol.

Trevor John Morrison of Rochester,

Kent was seen by a petroleum officer driving in the High Street, Tonbridge with what appeared to be a cigarette in his hand. The vehicle was followed and was later stopped by a police officer at the petroleum officer's request .

Cigaretts and a box of matches were being carried on an open briefcase in the cab , The charge was laid alleging contravention of Regulation 4 of the 1957 Regulations.

Delivery - Spillage- Appeal A number of appeals against conviction and sentence were heard at the Kent Crown Court sitting at Maidstone on 30th November 1977. The appeals concerned a spillage of petrol in the course of delivery and was reported in Volume 16 No . l of this Bulletin.

Station Garage (Wateringbury) Ltd., appealed against their conviction and sentence in respect of the Regulation 2 offence an against the sentence in respect of the Regulation 16(10) offence. A director of the company. Micheal Anthony Cayzer also appealed against his conviction and s entence in r espec t of Regul a tion 2 and Regulation 16(6) offences and against sentence in re l ation to the Regulation 16 (7 ) offence. In addition he argued that the Regulation 16(6) offence was a specific example of the more general Regulation 2 matter and that they were in effect the same offence .

These were rejected by the judge and all the appeals were dismissed Costs were awarded to the Kent County Council.

Tank Wagon Faults DJ 18th October 1977 before the West Ma Iling James Alfred Quilter pleaded guilty to two charges under the Conveyance Regulations. For failing to fit a screwcap on a draw-off pipe (Paragraph 13 of 1st Schedule) he was fined £25.00 and for failing to keep a filling opening locked a fine of £10.00 was imposed. Costs of £5.00 were awarded.

At the same hearing his employers Crouch Oil Ltd., of Dartford , Kent pleaded not guilty to two identical counts and the case against them was dismissed. A request for costs against the County Council was refuse d by the Magistr ates.

Unlicensed Storage Versatile (Kent) Ltd., of 94, Dover Road, FOlkstone pleaded guilty before the Folkstone Magistrates on 8th December 1977 to a charge under Section 1 of the Petroleum (ConsOlidation) Act 1928.

. tractor s , The firm, who are floor1ng con had previously been warned that a. licence was required f or the keep1ng of certain contact adhesives . Some 58 gallons of adhesives which were petr oleum . m1xtures d b en ha e found in an unlicensed' store which . 1 t ventilation and no s1l 0 had no prevent t outflow. The electrical in the s t ore was alsO not up t o required s t andar d. A fine of £50 .00 was costs of £30 . 00 . imp d Ose and wi th

SURREY

counsel f or t he Appe l l ants put f orward the argument that onl y a very small quantity of petrol was spilled , a point which was not confirmed by the officer concerned. Notwithstanding this he pleaded that the 'de minimis' rule should apply and the charge should not have been brought. Conveyance : Veh i c l e fau l ts and spil l age At Chertsey magistrates Court on 13 Apri l 1977 , Cab l es Montague Limited of Fraser Road. Erith, Kent , p l eaded guilty to charges of a) failing to keep the caps of the