French driver opts for jail
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• Norbert Dentressangle driver Joel Jean Couvelard is serving a 45-day prison sentence rather than pay fines totalling 14,500 imposed on him by West Bromwich magistrates.
Couvelard, of Rue De L'Aigle, Le Portel, was stopped in a foreign vehicle check on the M6 at Perry Bar on 9 August (CM August 18-24).
He was found to have falsified a tacho chart, exceeded the daily driving limit and taken insufficient daily rest. The magistrates fined him 12,500 for falsifying the chart and 11,000 on each of the other daily driving and daily rest offences. Three other foreign drivers stopped in the check appeared at the same court. John Kehoc, of Mulgannon, Co Wexford, in the Irish Republic, was fined 11,250 for failing to take a daily rest period and exceeding the daily driving limit.
Erich Neubauer of Reichen ouestr„kltenburg, Austria, was fined 11,000 for an 18% front axle overload. David Trigg of Panisische Veld, Ad Hengelo, Holland, was fined 13,000 for using a vehicle unsuitable for the load being carried.
Of all 41 vehicles checked, 42% were found to have faults with either the vehicles themselves or in respect of drivers hours or tachographs. Seven vehicles were given prohibition notices and nine drivers were cautioned.