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Haulier failed to check drivers' hours offences
Page 31
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A Macduff-based operator has its licence revoked after traffic examine said drivers were found to be 'doing their own thing'. Mike Jewell repc
A SCOTTISH HAULIER operating without a transport manager able to control its drivers has lost its licence. following a string of tachograph offences, including falsification of charts.
The licence held by Kenneth and Jean West, trading as Seaway Net Company. of Macduff, was revoked by the Scottish Deputy Traffic Commissioner Richard McFarlane. He also disqualified the firm and its two partners from holding or obtaining an 0-licence for six months.
The partners. who held an international licence for five vehicles and trailers, were seeking to increase its authorisation to eight of each, had been called before the DTC at an Aberdeen disciplinary inquiry.
Illness The firm's general manager, Jim Macpherson, said its transport manager, Eric Wilson, had been ill for some time before ceasing to be transport manager around September 2002. West had also been seriously ill in the last year in the meantime, Macpherson said he had done his best to fulfil the role of transport manager. He had taken the CPC examination and was awaiting the result.
Traffic examiner Michael Dunlop said an examination of the firm's tachograph records had revealed a series of offences, including he falsification of tacho charts. He believed that the lack of an effective transport manager had been a significant contributory factor in the firm's failure to detect any of the offences, as there was no effective system in place for checking the tachograph records and drivers were very much 'doing their own thing'.
However. Macpherson and West said they had believed that Wilson had been checking the charts. Macpherson said the relationship between the drivers, Wilson and management was extremely close and a lot of trust existed between them. He suspected Wilson might not have wished or liked to have raised the possibility of the falsification of charts with trusted drivers.The drivers, who were on an hourly rate, telephoned the office on Thursdays with hours worked so that their pay packets could be made up the following day. Holding that the firm had lost its repute, the DTC said there was no record retained of the work undertaken by the drivers for any given period. An examinat two timesheets kept by one driver sl he had worked for 82.5 and 87.5 th two weeks. The firm had 'limped without a qualified transport manal far too long, causing a number of s matters to perpetuate. There appe2 have been an incentive for drivers ti as many hours as possible. as the paid by the hour. He was satisfied ti knowingly allowed its drivers to exc( lawful number of hours available to In making the disqualification the DTC said that though Jean WE not actively involved in the daily n of the business, she was directly involve( with her husband as the holder of the 0-1 therefore she assumed all the responsil duties and liabilities that came with that.