A HAULAGE firm blamed a pothole after a trailer broke free from a lorry and hit a car passing at 60mph.
Magistrates heard the car ended up hitting the central reservation on the A38 at Willington after the runaway trailer hit its side.
Luckily no-one was seriously injured.
The lorry was operated by Punchard's Haulage, of Bramshall, near Uttoxeter, which was fined £1,334 after admitting using a vehicle with a part in a dangerous condition.
Andrea Charity, prosecuting, said the incident took place on the southbound side of the road on September 30, at 4.30pm.
She said car driver Jason Scott was driving at 60mph and was overtaking the lorry, which was being driven at 50mph. The lorry and trailer were empty.
Miss Charity said: "The trailer broke free from the lorry and hit the passenger side of the car, causing him to hit the central reservation."
Mark Croft, in mitigation, told Southern Derbyshire Magistrates Court, in Ilkeston, the equipment had passed a maintenance check two weeks earlier.
He said the "towbar hitch", which connects the lorry to the trailer, was held in place by two bolts.
He said: "We think the trailer went over a pothole and the bolts sheared. It was a component failure rather than maintenance failure, which is harder to spot."
The court heard the company is now using four bolts to secure trailers and these are welded in place.
Presiding magistrate Chris Mellors said: "We have listened to all that has been said and the efforts that the company have made to ensure it does not happen again.
"We are mindful of the consequences of what happened and that they may have been extremely serious."
The court heard that nobody was badly hurt in the incident although the car driver and his passenger suffered neck and rib pain.
Magistrates also ordered that Punchard's pay £35 prosecution costs and a £15 government surcharge.
After the hearing, a Highways Agency spokesman said the surface of the A38 was routinely checked.
He said: "Our service providers constantly monitor England's motorway and trunk road network and repair defects and we also respond to reports from road users."
But he would not comment on whether there were potholes on the A38 at Willington at the time.
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