EEC test case
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A TEST case involving the use of the tachograph on local journeys has been referred to the European Court of Justice for a ruling by the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court in London.
The High Court is trying to decide whether lorry-driver Roy Thomas Weston was breaking the law when he drove sheep to a market near Radcliffe-onTrent, Notts in a vehicle which was not equipped with a tachograph.
Weston and the owner of the farm, Sidney Hacketsuccessfully claimed at a lower court hearing that there was no obligation to fit a tachograph as the journey was to a "local" market.
Their defence was conducted on the basis of an EEC derogation which excludes journeys to "local" markets from the tachograph regulations.
However, the market in question was not the closest to the farm in terms of miles; it was the best market in the vicinity for dealing in sheep.
The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed on the grounds that the word 'local' applies only to the geographically closest market. Journeys further afield, to the 'most economically-suited market', oblige operators to fit the tachograph.
The result of the case will be of importance for hundreds of hauliers operating under similar conditions as the defendants in Notts. A ruling by the court in Luxembourg is expected by the end of the year.