SAPS traps six ‘serious’ overloads

KEVIN MAYHEW ONE OF the most serious single cases of alleged overloading was intercepted at Koster in North West Province last week. Six vehicles - all from ESO Trucking - were en route from Zambia to City Deep in Johannesburg on November 5 and overloaded with cobalt concentrate by between 30.8t and 37.6t in terms of maximum combination mass. A member of the South African Police Services, who noticed the vehicles as they headed towards Koster, tipped off the provincial traffic officials in the town. Once intercepted, they were ordered to the provincial weighbridge outside Koster. All six were combination truck-tractors and two semi-trailers with tridem axles. The total overload on the vehicles was 192 tons. The Zambian drivers were arrested and released on R2000 bail with the case set for January 24. The owner apparently sent additional vehicles to pick up the excess and enable the other trucks to continue, according to the Overloading SA website.