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James Cullinane, a 58-year-old farmer from Derry House near Rosscarbery in Co Cork was fined for dangerously transporting bales on a main road last year.
Cullinane defended the way he had 14 bales packed last year, claiming they were “like a baby in a mother’s chest”.
Clonakilty District Court heard Garda Brendan O’Donovan outline how on 7 October last year he saw a trailer carrying nine round bales, drawn by a tractor, with no licence plates on either vehicle and no restraints on the load. He also said that when he observed this at 4.50pm that day on the N71 outside Rosscarbery ropes were trailing from the back of the trailer.
He said he kept some distance back as he followed the trailer but added: “I was afraid they were going to come off on top of the patrol car.”
He also said that carrying a load like this on the N71 “would not be normal”.
Fourteen bales
Judge James McNulty was shown a picture of the load on the day. The judge highlighted that it actually held 14 bales, with two parallel rows of five bales on the floor of the trailer and four bales placed on top.
Solicitor for Mr Cullinane, Conrad Murphy, said there was a rise of a foot at the back of the trailer and a similar rise at the front, against which the bales were packed. He suggested the bales on top were sitting neatly on those below, helping them to stay packed together.
Giving evidence, Cullinane said when he was stopped by the garda it was alongside his own property and just 200 yards from the entrance. “I have that trailer 28 years,” he said. “I am drawing bales with it 28 years. They are heavy bales, wet silage.”
He added that he believed they could have weighed more than 500kg and that the four bales on top secured those underneath, adding that “it just sinks and you could not shift them”.
“If it was hay or straw I would always tie them down,” said Mr Cullinane, adding that the silage bales were “like a baby in a mother’s chest”.
He added that there was a lip of a couple of inches all around the trailer and said some plastic packaging was trailing behind the trailer, not ropes.
Not the view that this court takes
Judge McNulty said: “While Mr Cullinane minimises risks to the public and that everything was as snug as a bug in a rug, that is not the view that this court takes.”
He said the picture provided indicated that the trailer “seems to strain under the weight”.
The judge said while there were double tyres either side, it seemed to be a single-axle trailer and that he was concerned that in the event of a blowout, a puncture or meeting a pothole, “these bales were going wherever they want on a national primary route”.
He found Mr Cullinane, who had eight previous convictions, guilty of the charge and fined him €1,500 on failing to secure the load and another €500 for the failure to have identification on the vehicle.
He said, looking at the back of the trailer, “it’s a shocker”.
Recognisance was fixed for any appeal at Mr Cullinane’s own bond of €3,000, one-third in cash.
This story first appeared in the Irish Examiner.
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