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Eastern DTC has to deal with a backlog of phone offences
Page 18
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Extra hearings have been held in the Eastern Traffic Area to clear the backog of LGV drivers caught using their mobile phones. Chris Tindall reports.
THE LARGE number of LGV drivers committing mobile phone offences has led to a backlog of cases in the Eastern Traffic Area stretching back to December 2006.
Unjust one day Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mary Kane dealt with 12 driver conduct hearings, 10 of which were for mobile phone offences.
There is normally one of these hearings a month but this has been increased to three hearings in May so the backlog can be cleared.
Christopher Keer, Ivan Barnes, Colin Gent, Steven Collar, Kevin Murray, Dallas Wright, Robin Howlett and Matthew Clark were the latest LGV drivers to have their licences suspended for seven days after they were spotted by the police talking on their mobile phones in their cabs.
Andrew Wilson had his licence suspended for five days and Daniel Brooks received a written warning after Kane heard how he had pulled over to the side of the road to answer his phone, but left his engine running.The DTC said she was impressed by the evidence provided by Brooks' employer, Norfolk County Council, and also that it admitted its mobile phone policy did not take into account "the exact detail of the law".
Kane said:"I would normally be suspending your licence, but in view of what's been said I'm going to give you a written warning instead. It sounds feeble, but it is five years before that falls off your record here."
In the two hearings not related to mobile phone offences, Michael Brett and Richard Hall were both granted LGV licences by the TC after she had heard about their previous driving convictions.
Kane said she was persuaded by Brett and his employer, a local farmer, that his conviction for driving while over the limit in 2005 was a one-off.
She also accepted that Hall would not add to the nine penalty points already on his driving licence for speeding.