42Power of highway and bridge authorities to authorise carriage of excess weights on roads and bridges
(1)A highway authority as regards any road for the maintenance of which they are responsible, and a bridge authority as regards any bridge for the maintenance of which they are responsible, may, subject to such conditions as they think fit, grant a permit in respect of any trailer specified in the permit drawn by a heavy locomotive or a light locomotive on the road or bridge to carry weights specified in the permit notwithstanding that when conveying such weights the trailer does not comply with any regulations made by the Minister under the following provisions of this Part of this Act as to the weight laden of trailers or as to the maximum weight which may be transmitted to the road or any part thereof by trailers, and where such a permit is given it shall not, so long as the conditions, if any, attached to the permit are complied with, be an offence in the case of any such trailer to carry on that road or bridge weights authorised by the permit by reason only that the trailer when conveying them does not comply with such regulations as aforesaid:
Provided that, where a highway authority are responsible for the maintenance of a road passing over a bridge but not for the maintenance of the bridge itself, the power conferred by this section shall be exercisable by the bridge authority and not by the highway authority.
(2)In this section " highway authority " includes any person responsible for the maintenance of a road.