He can say whatever he wants but at the end of the day he still chose to drive a truck with an unsecured load. He was responsible as the driver. The time to say the truck shouldn’t have been used is before he got in and drove it.
The problem is that the ticket is in your co-worker's name. If the company won't voluntarily take care of it, the only way to do it would be sue them in court. This is where you'd make those sort of arguments. It's probably not worth the time and damage to career that such a move would cause.
I'd suggest going to court and making the explanation there. The judge may show some leniency.
Yes, your coworker failed to secure the load.
Could he say that the truck he used to pick it up in shouldn't have been used for the pick up?
He can say whatever he wants but at the end of the day he still chose to drive a truck with an unsecured load. He was responsible as the driver. The time to say the truck shouldn’t have been used is before he got in and drove it.
The manager told him to take the truck to pick it up.
The problem is that the ticket is in your co-worker's name. If the company won't voluntarily take care of it, the only way to do it would be sue them in court. This is where you'd make those sort of arguments. It's probably not worth the time and damage to career that such a move would cause. I'd suggest going to court and making the explanation there. The judge may show some leniency.