Ban on husband's role
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• Jayne Howard, trading as Howards International Transport, of Scarborough, has been granted a licence for a year.
But the licence has been given on condition that Mrs Howard's husband Michael has no connection with the business except as an employed driver.
In December 1991 Michael Howard, then a director of Howards Transport Services, was given a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Howard pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to charges of four counts of falsifying tachograph charts; five counts of aiding and abetting drivers to falsify charts; three counts of forging tachograph charts; two counts of aiding and abefting drivers to forge charts; and two counts of making false statements with intent to defraud the Inland Revenue.
Mrs Howard applied to North Eastern Deputy Licensing Authority Brian Horner for a new international licence for one vehicle and two trailers at a Scarborough public inquiry. Her application was opposed by North Yorkshire Police.
Inspector Malcolm Reed said Mrs Howard was company secretary of Howards Transport Services. A police investigation revealed substantial abuse of drivers' records and failures to declare bonuses to the Inland Revenue. The irregularities included drivers using two tacho graph charts for one day and exceeding the permitted hours limits with drivers, sometimes working for up to 34 hours without a break. Forged charts were also found—Howard got one of his drivers' fathers to put his name on charts and false accounting in that bonuses were paid to drivers to bring deliveries back over the permitted hours. Howard also paid casual drivers in cash without declaring it to the Inland Revenue.
Mrs Howard was responsible for collecting tachograph charts and paying drivers and was fully aware of the irregularities. North Yorkshire Police submitted its opinion that she was unfit to hold a licence and said the way the previous company was run was a danger to the public.
The force also believed Howard would play a major part in the new business, that he would have great influence over Mrs Howard.
Making it plain that Mr Howard would only be acceptable as a driver, Homer said that it was for that reason, and the doubts he had about finance in the long term, that he was making a conditional grant of one year only.