Winchester VA Scalehouse

No It was the fact the trooper wrote me 3 separate citations for the same bit of stupidity on my part.

It is kinda hard for me even stacked up to claim i am 65 ft.

 

I highly doubt they will have to shell out $65K. For that kind of money, you can hire a high power lawyer that will fight tooth and nail. Good lawyers aren't cheap though so it's still going to cost somebody a fair amount. Almost anybody would agree that a $65K fine is excessive.

 

Chump change for you super heavy haulers.

 

65K?

That's excessive and punitive to me. I grossed somewhere above 140K and got 3000 dollar fine against the company for that one because the old scales failed at 136500 or so. That was all they could write for. This was back in the 80's

I did carry a permit for 100K in Virginia and Maryland separately for the tractor and for the container work but they laughed it off. In face of that violation that day it's worthless.

 

This absolutely happens.It happened to me.
I had a bulldozer on,97k gross.Had an annual permit,good for 105k. Annual permits never used to specify the number of total axles,just weight. When this happenned to me,it was the first year they specified on the annual how many axles you had. My permit was for 5 axles.,but I had my flip axle down for safety,extra brakes and easier on their roads,total 6. Got me at Dumfries South for having an extra axle down instead of the 5. Yes,I was technically wrong for being 6 instead of 5,but safety and common sense went out the window with Va cops. Dissallowed my permit,took me to 80k,and fined me for being 17k over,plus permit violation. Over 4K in fines. Then I asked Einstein the scale man do I need a new permit to move? He said no,lift up the axle,and you can go,and I did. Had to go to 2 different court dates in Manasass. One for the weight one for the permit. The permit ticket,if I plead guilty they agreed to $150. They told me the permit charge was a traffic misdemeanor in Va. and I could go to jail for a year. For having an extra axle down,unbelievable. That's what the scale cop told me.
On that day on trial was a Keen truck,same bull$hit. One of his blinking lights were out,they voided his 150k permit,fine was huge,don't remember exact amount.He had lawyers with him,coudn't hear the outcome,as they had a private pow wow with the judge and DA.
I went back weeks later for the overweight fine,DA cut the fine in half if I plead guity. Did it.
That's how these bistards operate in Virginia,don't give them the chance to void your permit,they'll stick it in you.

 

Well sure, pick that axle up and he's no longer overweight. Makes perfect sense.

 

In my wildest dreams,if I thought I was going to go through all this grief,time wasting going to out of state court on two different days,and just flat out being robbed,I would have left the axle up. The two scale house cops were both black,male and female. And I'm not trying to sound racial,but there was no explaining my point to them on the safety factor,of having an extra set of brakes,hauling heavy in I-95 Washington,DC stop and go traffic. Not to mention It wasn't being as hard on their highway,It was strictly all about hanging as much financial burden on me as they could. I was polite and respectful the whole time.
And,to show how crooked it really is,when I went to the second trial,the cop stopped me before I went into the courtroom,and wanted to know where my representative from Landstar was.(I was leased to Landstar/Inway HH when all this happened). He told me I had to have someone from LS with me. I told him no one said anything about that. He told me I would have to reschedule another courtdate then................OR,I could plead guilty and he would get the DA to cut my fine in half and be done with it. I agreed to this so I wouldn't have to come back and waste another day,but I did really want to plead my case to a judge and try and see if there was any reason in the court. Paid,said the hell with it and went home.
I get home from court,called Landstar the next day and told them what happened. They said that was all bull$hit about having a Landstar rep with you. The said Virginia had tried it before,and it's not true. I believe that,as I own the truck and trailer.
Now I'm really steamed,got robbed of a bunch of money over a chicken shi* infraction,AND I didn't get my day in court. I found out who the Judge was that day,and I wrote a letter explaining everything,wanted to know her thoughts. Sent it registered,signature required mail,they got it,and I never heard a Dam word back from them.
Again,the point of all this when you're moving oversize in Va,do it by the book,don't let them screw you.

 

While I'm still roasting,I'll relate another story,to show the difference between Md. and Va.
I loaded a rough terrain crane one morning for Amtrak,in their yard in Perryville,Md just going down to Odenton,Md,by DC. Hauled lots of their stuff,knew their weights,plus Amtrak stencils their weights on the side of the machine. I got a permit for the weight stated,plus I always add plenty,as they pay permits. My gross should have been less than 95k,had a permit for 102k. The only problem was unbeknownst to me,they had foam filled the tires,and not changed the weight painted on the machine,adds a lot of weight if anyone is familiar with this. The I-95 Md scales are not far from where I load,pull on the scale,get called around back,bring in your permit. Show the girl in the scalehouse my permit,she says,you have a little problem,you're grossing 105,500. Oh,boy,what a way to start a day. I said,ok,let me go out and order another permit. She said,no,I'm not going to make you do that,but you will have to pay a little fine. Ok,I'm good with that,she's already being nice to by not making me wait half a day on a permit,and Amtrak will pay the fine anyway. We talk and bs for a while,she wrote me a ticket,the fine was $70.,yes 70 bucks,mail it in when you get a chance,you can go,have a nice day! I thanked her profusely,and she told me the reason she gave me a break was because, I was extremely polite (which I am),and didn't start ranting and raving like lots do,I guess.
I've driven a commercial truck in Md for over 45 years,never any big issues,never got anything I didn't deserve,but this the difference between, Md. and Va,for me anyway.

 

I got popped coming out of Baltimore at the 70 westbound scales with a GR800 Tadano on, I had it torn down and was under 120,000 but was permitted at 132,000 plus the mirror was still on the aux drum which put me a couple inches over height. As I remember it I needed an escort because of the declared weight but was under the impression that I didn't need it because the actual weight was under 120,000. They gave me a small fine and actually ordered my new permit for me and let me pull the mirror off, I was very impressed.