Faulty fuel truck confiscated
The truck was confiscated on the N4 by the province's traffic control officials on Monday.
MBOMBELA – A confiscated fuel truck is a feather in the cap for the province’s traffic control officials. Provincial inspectors Bhekumuzi Zikalala and Lindokuhle Khoza stopped a fuel truck on the N4 ring road at 19:00 on Monday.
According to Senior Inspector Oupa Makamu, the truck was empty when it was pulled off. It was on its way from Springs to Mozambique to fill up with fuel to deliver in Zimbabwe. The truck is owned by Jaivon Transport.
“The officers realised that the license disk on the truck was for a Volvo and not for the Scania the driver was seated in,”
Makamu said.
Upon further investigation the officers found that the truck did not display the correct South African numbers in case of an emergency and that it was leaking fuel. The fire extinguishers were not in working condition, the safe loading pass had expired and the valves of the truck did not work properly.
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The inside of the truck was also in a state of disrepair. The driver’s seat belt was not working, wires were hanging from under the steering wheel, the passenger door could not open and the passenger seat was broken.
The driver, a Zimbabwean, had a valid driver’s licence but did not have the necessary fire permits to drive a tanker. He was taken into custody on Wednesday. According to Makamu specialists from another fuel company inspected the truck and found that it was not safe.
“The truck could have caused accidents as it has a potential to explode or cause a fire as well as making the road slippery and causing accidents,”
Makamu said.
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He added that it would also be easy for the driver to lose control of the truck due to the dilapidated condition of the inside of the vehicle.
The owner of the truck could not be reached for comment by the time of going to press.
