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Driver caught red-handed
Page 23
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A Stranraer-based driver who was caught red-handed with a falsified tache chart and who lied to a traffic examiner about a missing chart has been hit for 1500 in fines and costs.
Alan Nicol admitted the offences when he appeared before Leyland Magistrates in Lancashire.
Prosecuting for VOSA, John Heaton said that the drivers' hours and tachograph rules were designed to protect the public from the dangers inherent in heavy vehicles being driven by tired drivers. Drivers had to be self-policing and taken on trust.
That trust had been misplaced in the case of Nicol. This was a 44-tonne vehicle and Nicol had been caught "redhanded' with a tachograph record that he had previously falsified. He had also not been using a record when stopped in a check at Cuerden, near Preston, on 16 November last year.
Nicol had also not kept a record on the previous Wednesday and had lied about It when questioned, telling the traffic examiner that he had been en holiday for two weeks. However, a police officer had made enquiries of Grampian Poultry, of Coupar Angus, the consignor of the load Nicol was carrying at the time of the check.
Grampian Poultry had stated that Nicol had entered its premises an 13 November and loaded his vehicle to travel to Witham. in Essex. When that was put to Nicol, he admitted failing to keep a record of that journey.
Asked whether his employer knew of his court appearance and what effect it had had upon his employment, Nicol said: "Well, It hasn't done it any good and depending upon the outcome it might affect it. The boss knows I'm here.'' Fining Nicol £400, and ordering him to pay £100 in costs, the magistrates said that they considered the deliberate nature of the offences and the driving of long distances aggravating elements, but the prompt guilty plea and remorse were mitigating features.