Haulage firm loses appeal against €1m fine for causing two deaths

A road haulage firm fined €1 million for inadequately securing steel coils, which slid off a trailer, killing two motorists, has lost an appeal against the severity of its fine.

Roadteam Logistic Solutions, formerly known as Nolan Transport Limited, with a registered address at Oaklands, New Ross, Co Wexford, had pleaded guilty to breaching the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act following a road accident near Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, on July 19th, 2007.

Holding that the accident was "clearly foreseeable" because of the "dangerous manner in which the load was being transported", Mr Justice Raymond Fullam, sitting at Wexford Circuit Criminal Court, fined the company €1 million on February 25th, 2013. The maximum fine was €3 million.

Roadteam lost its appeal against the sentence yesterday, with the Court of Appeal holding that the fine was “just and proportionate”.

Inadequately secured

Giving judgment, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said Roadteam, a major road haulage company, was the owner and operator of the lorry which was transporting six steel coils weighing 25 tons. The coils were placed on crates but they were inadequately secured.

Mr Justice Sheehan said the lorry, when approaching a bend in the road near Thomastown, began to lean to the wrong side of the road. The straps used to “secure the metal coils started to break and fly across the road, and the six steel coils began to slide off the trailer”.

The drivers of two cars travelling on the other side of the road – Mary Lonergan and Vanessa McGarry – were killed and four other people were injured.

Mr Justice Sheehan said the lorry was travelling at 53 km/h when it approached the bend. That was relevant, he said, in light of the company’s submission that the fault for the accident lay mainly with the driver. While this may not be “entirely inaccurate”, Mr Justice Sheehan said the secure strapping of a heavy load on a truck is necessary to ensure the safety of other road users in all kinds of driving conditions.

Improving standards

Roadteam had no previous convictions for health and safety breaches and since the accident it was noted that the company had spent a considerable amount of money improving its health and safety standards, Mr Justice Sheehan said. It had also apologised to the families of the deceased and those injured.

The company submitted through its barristers Shane Murphy SC and Paul Anthony McDermott SC that the fine imposed was entirely disproportionate to a single act of omission rather than commission.Mr Justice Sheehan said that while the fine imposed was a significant one, it was “just and proportionate” given the nature of the omissions and the harm caused. Accordingly the appeal was dismissed.