AT THE HEART OF THE ROAD TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.

Call our Sales Team on 0208 912 2120

Driver loses HO licence for speed

1st November 2001
Page 23
Page 23, 1st November 2001 — Driver loses HO licence for speed
Close
Noticed an error?
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.

Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

limiter and tachograph tampering

Truck driver Mark Baker lost his HGV licence for four months after being convicted of falsifying tachograph records and interfering with his speed limiter.

He appeared before Eastern Traffic Commissioner Geoffrey Simms at a Cambridge public inquiry after being fined £1,000 by the Sheffield magistrates in June for four offences of falsification and two of interfering with his speed limiter.

Baker told the IC that he had created the false records by using a pin to draw a trace on the tachograph chart to show that he'd had the appropriate rest period. He had initially opened the tachograph head to see how much time he had left, but was distracted by a call on his mobile telephone from his girlfriend and had driven for some time with the tachograph head open. He conceded that he had disabled the speed limiter by pulling the fuse. Baker added that he had been unfamiliar with multi ple-drop delivery work and had sought to create extra time for himself. He had also been apprehensive about returning to base without completing his deliveries.

Suspending Baker's HGV licence for four months, the TC said that tachographs and speed limiters were safety equipment fitted to heavy trucks to protect people from tired drivers and those who were inclined to exceed the speed limits. To misuse or abuse that equipment was in most cases a deliberate and calculated act.

"He is an extremely foolish young man who has through his own stupid actions put his livelihood as a driver with a reputable company at serious risk," the IC added.

Eastern TO Simms concluded that Baker's explanation was "frankly quite implausible and totally unacceptable" when there were four quite separate offences to be considered.

Tags

Locations: Sheffield, Cambridge

comments powered by Disqus