Driver Svenn-Inge Hansen was accused of dumping 25 tonnes of rock in front of an inspector from the Swedish Road Administration. He completely disagrees with how the case was presented.
According to the National Roads Administration, this lorry must have dumped 25 tonnes of stone right next to a checker. The driver himself says the load weighed 16 tonnes, and that the load ended up straight in the water. Photo: Norwegian Public Roads Administration Published: Published:
Less than 20 minutes ago
On Tuesday, the Norwegian Road Administration reported that a driver dumped 25 tonnes of stone in front of an inspector who had requested that the vehicle be weighed.
– Decades pass between each time you experience this type of incident. This is not the way it usually is, said chief engineer Tom Børslid in the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. He referred to the incident as a “really ugly case”.
Børslid said that the driver was tried to be stopped at Drotningsvik Senter. Svenn-Inge Hansen, who drove the stone load, says that he did not perceive that it was a control.
– I drive past the petrol station at Drotningsvik and see that there are traffic controllers standing there. I look at the road and make eye contact with the conductor. I don’t see that there is any control there, says Hansen.
The driver says that he later heard that the inspector came running on the road along the petrol station and up behind the lorry.
– I haven’t seen him. He must be standing by the road if he is to stop me.
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– Dumped 25 tons of rock while we were doing the inspection
– Asked him to get out
He then drove on to the construction site at Storavatnet, where he was to empty the load. The construction area is closed to outsiders.
– I had started to open the rear hatch and stood with the rear end towards the water where the stone was to be emptied. Then a private car, a BMW, enters the construction area. I thought: “What the hell is going on?”.
Hansen says that a man gets out of the car and stands between him and an excavator on the construction site. The driver of the excavator, Ronny Samlanes, says that he experienced the inspector’s behavior as “completely unacceptable”.
– I asked him to get out of the construction area, as he was not wearing a helmet. He was only wearing a National Roads Administration suit and broke all HSE rules on the construction site. He just talked it away, says Samlanes.
The driver says the load was dumped straight into the water. – I had full control over where the controller was. There was no danger for him, he says. Photo: Norwegian Road Administration
– No danger to the controller
Hansen says that he heard that the controller was asked to leave the area, and that he took that to mean that he could then release the load.
– When the driver of the excavator told the controller that he had to get out of there, I emptied the load. I did it a bit in the heat of the moment. It was probably stupid to empty, but I had full control over where the controller was. There was no danger for him, he says.
According to inspector Børslid, the driver must have been told five to six times that he was to be weighed at a weighing station at Storavatnet.
– Did you realize that you were to be checked before you opened the rear limb?
– I don’t recognize myself in it. There was so much back and forth. There were people queuing to unload. It was also due to stress. I’m not used to people screaming. Then you don’t catch what people are saying. There was also noise from the trucks behind, says Hansen further.
– Was it to avoid the weight control that the load was emptied?
– No. I had no idea that there would be any nuisance. I thought it was about the fact that I had driven from a control. It was not a particularly heavy load, says the driver.
– Only had 16 tons
Børslid told BT that there were 25 tonnes of stone on the loading platform and that the stone had fallen to the ground right next to him.
Hansen says that it is not possible to have that much weight on the lorry, and estimates himself that he had 16 tonnes of stone. He also says that the rock was dumped behind the truck in the water, and not next to the controller.
– There is nothing that ended up on land. If he had been hit by the load, he would have had to have swum behind the truck, he says.
The driver also says that he had nothing to gain from overloading the lorry:
– I had nothing to gain by tipping the load. If there is congestion, there will be a fee. It is my employer who gets that fee, he says.
Børslid says on Thursday that he has reported the driver for not following the messages he received in connection with the traffic control.
– The driver and owner of the company must be allowed to say what they want. Their claims may have to be answered in court, says Børslid.
Published:
Published: December 14, 2023 6:46 p.m
2023-12-14 17:46:32
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