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Hungarian driver given jail sentence for 'fiddling' tactic,

19th February 2009
Page 8
Page 8, 19th February 2009 — Hungarian driver given jail sentence for 'fiddling' tactic,
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By Joanna Bourke A HUNGARIAN DRIVER who was found to be using a magnet to interfere with his digital tachograph and speed limiter has been jailed for four months and given a driving ban.

VOSA and Devon and Cornwall Police pulled driver Gabor Fuksz off the A30 in Truro after he was spotted travelling at 80mph.

VOSA examiners then found out he had been using a magnet to interfere with his equipment. According to VOSA, during the check on 29 January, Fuksz acted suspiciously by sticking his arm near the gearbox in the 44-tonne artic. which was operated by an Irish company.

Fuksz moved the magnet and placed it on the underside of the fifth wheel coupling. In addition to tampering with a tacho, a magnet can be used to disable a speed limiter, which restricts a truck to 56mph.

At Truro Magistrates on 30 January, Fuksz was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison and given a 15-month driving ban for dangerous driving and tachograph alteration offences.

-It seems to be the most prevalent form of interference with tachos that we are coming across," a VOSA spokesman says.

Drivers caught falsifying a record face a maximum penalty of £5,000 and two years in prison.

They can also be held liable for further offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act, depending on how false the record is. which carries larger penalties for drivers and operators.

Last year. a Dutch driver appeared on TV to allege he faced the sack from one haulier in the Netherlands because he refused to use a magnet to alter digital tacho 3 data (Dutch drivers use magnets I to commit digitach fraud'. CM 6 November 2008). 5

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Organisations: Cornwall Police