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When is a driver driving?

25th April 1991, Page 22
25th April 1991
Page 22
Page 22, 25th April 1991 — When is a driver driving?
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

• A judge has ruled that a driver AA takes over a vehicle when he starts driving — not when he boards it.

The judge at Liverpool Crown Court took the decision after quashing a tachograph conviction against Standish, Lancashire-based coach operator Gordon Woods.

Woods, who trades as WTC Coaches, had been convicted by Wigan magistrates of using a coach when one of his drivers, a Mr Derbyshire, failed to use a tachograph.

Nigel Poole, prosecuting, said that Derbyshire and another driver called Jenkins had taken a coach from Coppull to Glasgow; Jenkins drove on the outward journey. After a long break in Glasgow, Derbyshire had driven the coach back to Coppull. However, he had failed to put his chart in the 'second-man' position during the outward journey and he had not made a manual entry to show that he was on duty between Coppull and Glasgow.

Poole argued that as both drivers had travelled in the same vehicle on the outward journey they had both "taken over" the vehicle at the start. The vehicle was therefore double manned from the outset and both drivers were required to use the twoman tachograph throughout.

Defending, John Backhouse maintained that there was a clear distinction between being a driver and taking over the vehicle. If the legislators had intended that a driver must be deemed to take over the vehicle as soon as he boarded it, they could have easily said so.

The use of the words "take over the vehicle" were clearly intended to define a different moment than when a driver joined the vehicle, he said.

Judge Clark said that there was no case in which the words concerned had been interpreted by a higher court. However, to say that they meant the moment the driver boarded the vehicle, whether or not he actually drove, was standing common sense on its head.

Tags

Organisations: Liverpool Crown Court
Locations: Glasgow, Lancashire, Coppull

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