Trailer breakdown due to poor maintenance

Item: National Trailer Rental
Rating: 1
Author: Martin D

Please find below incident report: As per lease contract I approached AFSA but they require upfront payment in excess of R 4 000 per party which makes this dispute resolution not viable. National trailer Rental demands from me payment for their cost of R 863 to recover the broken down trailer whereas I demand from National trailer Rental payment of the deposit of R 400 and hire cost of R 800 for the bakkie to retrieve the load I had on the trailer. Good day Deon, Thanks for your mail and attached pictures / document, content of which is noted. As per your first statement (trailer overloaded) please see detailed loading list including respective weights of items below. Please note that all equipment belongs to Reachdown Events, run by my wife Christina Maphothoma. We know the weight of each single item of all our equipment for the simple reason that we don’t overload vehicles / trailers as a matter of principle. Furthermore please take cognisance of the fact that I have worked for more than 30 years in the trucking business, amongst other in the function as co – owner of a trucking company, branch manager, ops manager and Health and Safety Rep., so I think it is safe to say that I know a thing or two about vehicle safety, the implications of overloading and analysis of courses of accidents / incidents such as the one in question here. This is the loading list of items loaded on the trailer on the journey where the incident occurred: Main poles for 2 tents 8 items 7kg each 56kg gross Side poles 7x12 tent 20 items 4kg each 80kg gross Side poles 5x10 tent 14 items 4kg each 56kg gross Wimbledon chairs plastic 50 items 3kg each 150kg gross Plastic chairs 10 items 2kg each 20kg gross Crate with plates 1 item 30kg each 35kg gross Round tables plastic 6 items 15kg each 90kg gross Wedding table 1 item 12kg each 12kg gross Total 494kg I have been informed by your staff at the Edenvale branch where I hired this trailer that the maximum load capacity of this trailer is 500kg. Regarding your second statement regarding the spring packs: I discard this statement as overloading does not lead to spring leafs being shifted sidewise and leaf brackets to be bent open. Theoretically the de – alignment of the spring packs could have happened on the incident itself whereby the leaf package might have suffered a horizontal impact. Practically, however, if this was the case there would be fresh marks having scratched some of the rust on the leafs off which makes the theory about leaves having shifted during the course of the trip or on the incident virtually impossible. The leafs were sitting just as one can see them on the pictures for quite some time before this trip and the incident. On picture …0664 (2nd last picture in word doc attachment) it is also clearly visible that the entire mounting of the suspension is corroded and therefore likely to have some play. This is much more likely to have caused the leafs to shift over time. Please also take note that I found fresh grease on one spot of about 10cm of the right rim after the incident, indicating that the grease cap came off on the incident when the bearing collapsed (see last pic word doc attachment). If the grease cap would have come off earlier there would have been a thin grease film spread over the entire rim and outer tyre side wall. Regarding the tyres to be over inflated: On takeover of the trailer from your Edenvale branch I noticed that the left wheel was heavily under inflated. I therefore took the trailer to the garage opposite your Edenvale branch to adjust the pressure on both tyres to 2.5 bar (I found the right one with 1.7 bar). During the trip I monitored the tyre pressures and found the left wheel to be losing pressure very slowly so I adjusted the inflation pressure twice daily. The right one kept the pressure. Regarding the condition of the road between Bronkhorstspruit and Groblersdal: This road has been widened and upgraded quite recently except the about 15km between the province boundary Gauteng / Mpumalanga and shortly after Verena where it is still narrow but with a reasonable surface. Besides, I have travelled this road at least 30 times in the last 2 years and am absolutely fami**** with it. Also, please note that the incident occurred about 15km North of Bronkhorstspruit which is still in Gauteng. This part of the road has been in 1A condition for a good couple of years now. Generally when I took over the trailer I found it to be in a poor condition, e.g. one tail lamp lens and one indicator lens broken, rear skirt (where lamps and registration plate are mounted on) bent upwards, rusty rims, rear gates not closing properly (had to be secured with a piece of wire) and initially no spare wheel (had to insist on being given one which couldn’t even be positioned on the draw bar where it belongs due to missing securing ***** and no thread on bolt). Furthermore on taking the remainder of the rim off on the scene of the incident I noticed that there were 2 sizes of wheel bolts used, two 17mm and two 19mm (see attached pictures). Besides, the bolts could only be loosened using copious amounts of Q20, meaning firstly that the wheels haven’t been taken off in a very long time and secondly the heads of the bolts were rusted together with the rim. All this does indicate that the trailer has not been maintained properly. In the light of all the above I regard myself not responsible for the incident whatsoever. To the contrary, I ensured proper tyre inflation at all times, changed 2 globes on the trailer, positioned 1 indicator (left) and one tail lamp (right) properly as they were about to come off the skirt, ensured proper load distribution on the trailer (and bakkie) and never exceeded a speed of 85 km/h. Generally, I operated the bakkie and trailer with diligence and professionalism. Much rather, above mentioned facts strongly point to insufficient maintenance of the trailer as the cause of the incident. I have attached a few photographs showing the load on the trailer as well as the damaged rim, wheel nuts, spring pack and wheel bearing. I therefore demand payment of the deposit of R 400 as well as payment of R 800 (invoice attached) which I had to pay for salvage of the load on the trailer by 12. May 2017 close of business. My banking details are as follows: Account holder: Martin Otto Dreschler Account number: 300 852 185 Account type: Current / cheque Bank: Standard Bank Branch: Balfour Mall, Highlands North I trust that the above is in order with you. With kind regards,

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