National Travel hours blunder
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BREACHES of the drivers' hours and EEC drivers' records regulations led to National Travel (North East) Ltd, being fined £250 and six of its drivers a total of £190 by Dewsbury, Yorkshire magistrates last Friday.
The drivers faced 16 charges of failing to have sufficient rest, of exceeding 16 hours on duty and failing to make entries in the daily sheets of EEC control books. National Travel faced 22 charges, including permitting the drivers' offences, and failing to issue international drivers' record hooks.
Prosecuting for the Department of the Environment, Mr Michael Patterson said the offences were revealed after an investigation which had resulted from complaints received from a driver formerly employed by National that he had been unable to take proper rest periods.
It was obvious from the company's output sheets that the schedules could not have been completed within the regulations governing drivers' hours and rest.
As far as the records offences were concerned, journeys to France were shown on three occasions in the contract carriage record but there were no entries whatsoever in the control book. Similarly, on tours to Holland no entries had been made in the control books for the parts of the journey that were within the United Kingdom.
Defending, Mr John Taylor said the offences fell into two groups.
Dealing with the hours offences, Mr Taylor said they related to drivers returning as a passenger on another coach after they had driven on a long-distance service. There was no question of the driver actually having driven for the amounts of time involved, which was what the regulations were designed to prevent.
The records offences had arisen out of a misinterpretation by National of what were complex regulations.
Drivers were employed to drive a vehicle, from one point in the United Kingdom to another point in the UK, when the vehicle was proceeding on an international journey. Records had not been kept in respect of these, although in fact, the law required records from the point of departure on international journeys and not just from when the vehicle had left this country.