A milkman has been awarded £16,000 damages against a truck fitting company which decided to shorten the chassis of his new milk van when fitting a refrigerated body to it.
Judge Patrick Smith held yesterday that Monread Truck Bodies Ltd, Maudlins Industrial Estate, Naas, Co Kildare, cut 21/2 feet off a Ford Transit chassis without consulting Mr Patrick Keoghan, of Kilcarty, Kilmessan, Co Meath.
Judge Smith said the weight of the refrigerated unit on the shortened chassis had left the delivery van so unbalanced as to reader its use virtually impossible.
He told Mr Seamus Noonan, for Mr Keoghan, there was no negligence by the chassis supplier or a firm which unsuccessfully tried to remedy the initial mistake by Monread Truck Bodies against whom there was "clear evidence of negligence".