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Great Yarmouth driver blames local firms for breaking rules
Page 31
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A GREAT YARMOUTH driver fined £225 for falsifying tachograph charts claimed to have come under pressure to complete deliveries, even if it meant exceeding his legal driving hours limit.
John Callaghan of Gorleston pleaded guilty before the Leyland magistrates to three offences of falsifying tachograph records. In mitigation he claimed his wages would be docked if he had refused to break the rules.
Prosecuting for VOSA, John Heaton said the offences came to light when Callaghan's artic was stopped in a check at Cuerden.
An examination of his tacho charts revealed missing mileage, with the odometer readings not matching the distance traces. Callaghan admitted not putting the charts in the tachograph at the start of the day.
Appearing for Callaghan, Debra Harris said he had been driving for 20 years and this was his first court appearance. He and his family had moved from
Northampton to Gorleston for a better lifestyle. In her arguments on his behalf Harris claimed that few employers in East Anglia recognised the hours' rules.
She claimed that at the end of Callaghan's third week with his new employer he had been told to deliver a load by 6am or his employer could have to pay a financial penalty to the client.
His employer was holding £400 in wages and Harris told the court that Callaghan believed this penalty would be deducted from his wages if he failed to make the delivery.
That, she suggested, was why he took a risk by starting earlier and not recording all his driving time as the law required.
He had since found a new employer.
In mitigation Harris claimed that many employers expected drivers to work beyond the hours permitted by the EC rules.
Having heard the plea of mitigation the magistrates fined Callaghan £225 with £50 costs.
MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES
In fining Callaghan the magistrates may have taken account of the pressure he believed he had been under and his previous good record.