DEFECTIVE COUPLING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26746, 15 April 1948, Page 5

DEFECTIVE COUPLING

FATAL ACCIDENT WITH TRAILER

P.A. AUCKLAND, Apl. 14. “ Through no fault of their own these two unfortunate men died as the result of a tragic accident'.” said the coroner, Mr A. Addison, at the resumed inquests into the deaths of Alvin Keith Dally, a drainlayer, aged 43, and Arthur Berkeley Burberry, a labourer, aged 35. The coroner found that the cause of their deaths on December 23 last was multiple injuries received as a the result of a motor trailer (a horse float) breaking loose from, a motor truck and colliding with a motor car in which the two were driving at Avondale. The coroner said the accident occurred because of a defective trailer coupling holding the horse float to the truck. The coupling was defective, as the accident had proved, and the evidence of the police mechanic proved it was defective in both design and manufacture. It was surprising, he added, that no provisions were laid down for the inspection of trailers for the purpose of a warrant of fitness. , , It seemed that the inspection of a trailer, and particularly the coupling, should be even more strict than that of a car. With the increase .in the use of trailers it was more than likely that similar accidents would occur unless trailers and their couplings were under much' stricter inspection than at present. The coroner said he proposed to make a recommendation to that effect to the Transport Board.