A HAULIER whose overloaded lorry crashed killing an elderly cyclist has had his fine reduced.

Magistrates told Brian Hillier to pay £5,000 after he admitted responsibility for the vehicle carrying a third more weight than it should have have done.

But after appealing to Swindon Crown Court the Superior Storage Ltd boss's fine was cut by £1,000 to £4,000.

Judge Tom Longbotham heard that driver Dennis Mead, 37, was driving the flatbed lorry when the accident happened on the A3102 at Melksham.

Mead, of Woodcock Road, Warminster, was convicted of careless driving and fined £240. He was also fined £200 for the three weight charges. Jane Warren, for the Crown, told the court that the lorry was heading along Sandridge Road when the accident happened in July last year.

She said the Volkswagen lorry hit David Sprules' bike, which was pulling a trailer and was on the same side of the road.

Mr Sprules, of Woodrow Road, was a familiar sight in Melksham, along with the bicycle and trailer he used while doing odd jobs.

His widow Marjorie said he had set out at 5am on the morning of the accident to collect stale bread from a bakery which he was taking to a piggery when the crash happened.

An earlier inquest heard that he died instantly from a broken neck and pelvis. It is thought Mr Sprules was reloading the trailer after it had overturned. It was then hit by the lorry.

Miss Warren said the lorry was taken to a weighbridge and found to be 18.75 per cent overweight on the front axle, 23.3 per cent on the rear and 33.7 per cent over all.

She said the lorry, which was carrying various pieces of a refrigeration unit, should have had a gross weight of three and a half tonnes but clearly had a third more on board.

Hillier, 59, of Cornflower Way, Melksham, had admitted three counts of excessive weight for which the maximum fine on each is £5,000.

Tim Hills, for Hillier, said: "Mr Mead was driving a van with which he was not familiar, too fast for the circumstances at 40.45mph, into low sun early in the morning when there were patches of fog around.

"It appears the cause of the accident was him not keeping a proper look out, driving too fast and into the back of a slow vehicle he couldn't see."

He said that the vehicle was in good order and that although his client had supervised the beginning of the loading process he had not been there when it was completed, leaving another partner in charge.

Reducing the fine and allowing £400 in costs, the judge said: "In the circumstances this case calls for a substantial fine."