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Three drivers face jail for tachograph falsification

10th November 2005
Page 34
Page 34, 10th November 2005 — Three drivers face jail for tachograph falsification
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Keywords : Tachograph, Law / Crime

THREE DRIVERS face possible jail sentences after a district judge referred their case to the Crown Court for sentencing. He ruled that the public safety issues in their convictions for tachograph fiddling meant all sentencing options must be open.

The drivers, who worked for Holyhead-based Gareth JonesTransport, were committed for sentence at Liverpool Crown Court after the judge decided his powers of sentencing were insufficient.

David Atkinson pleaded guilty at Wirral Magistrates Court to 10 offences of falsification and asked for a further two to be taken into account. Steven Harris pleaded guilty to 14 offences and asked for a further six to be taken into account. John George pleaded guilty to 11 offences and asked for a further 14 to be considered.

Prosecuting for VOSA. John Heat& said in Atkinson's case there were two occasions when there was daily rest of around only six hours and that he had admitted interrupting the tachograph for 53 minutes after 809km of driving. There was also an instance where he had been checked by a traffic examiner in the South and had tried to alter the examiner's endorsement at the time of the check.

Among Harris's offences were two journeys between Stafford and Holyhead and one between Stafford and Watford Gap that were unrecorded.

In George's case, missing mileage included 158km on a journey between Holyhead and Milton Keynes on which the daily duty had amounted to 21 hours 30 minutes, and an unrecorded journey between Calais and Rugby.

For the three men, John Parsons said there had been a lack of instruction about tachographs, but all the drivers had since attended seminars. There was no financial advantage and no pressure from the employer.

Parsons said the state of the roads, particularly the A.55, had led them to offend to buy time to complete theirjourneys. The drivers had to meet ferry and train times while carrying computers to the Continent.


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