Hours regs for safety
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/Partners Christopher and Nigel Needham of Needham transport, of Morecambe, were fined £1,000 at Preston Crown Court after admitting conspiring with drivers to break the drivers hours rules and falsify tachograph charts.
Prosecuting, John Wishart said that in November 1988 a driver complained to the North Western Licensing Authority that the firm was encouraging drivers to falsify tachograph charts and work excessive hours.
A similar complaint was made by a second driver in March 1989. The drivers were paid 20% of their vehicles' earnings but they never knew the gross earnings of their vehicles.
Both drivers expressed concern about the safety aspects of the long hours of driving. Realising the seriousness of the situation, the DOT turned the investigation over to the police who seized 905 tachograph charts when they raided the firm's premises.
Eight drivers made statements that they had been shown how to falsify charts by removing fuses. Blown fuses were sometimes inserted.
Wishart alleged the drivers had driven well beyond the permitted hours, saying that illegal means had been used to get round the regulations.
Defending, Jonathan Foster said the drivers allegations were denied. Such offences were difficult for enforcement agencies to detect, and it was equally difficult for hauliers to detect what their drivers were doing.
The defendants had known that from time to time their drivers had exceeded the hours limits in order to get home. They knew that in order to do so the drivers had to falsify charts: they should have reprimanded the drivers but they did not. However, they had not actively encouraged the drivers to exceed the hours limits.
Judge John Appleton fined each partner £500 and pointed out that the drivers hours regulations were for the protection of other road users.