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by Michael Jewell • Drivers who use their tractive units to drive home at the end of the working day must comply with tachograph regulations, the High Court has ruled.
In an important ruling, the Crown Prosecution Service successfully appealed last week against a decision by Barry magistrates who had acquitted Dinas Powys lorry driver David Guy of using a vehicle when the tachograph was not used.
Prosecuting, John McGuinness said that Guy had been driving home in a unit belonging to his employer when he was stopped by police, who found that there was no chart in his tachograph.
McGuinness contended that if a driver used a vehicle in which a tachograph had been installed, any driving time came within the "daily working period" referred to in the EC regulations.
For Guy, it was maintained that driving home from work constituted part of his rest period.
Giving judgement, Lord Justice Simon Brown said he had sympathy with Guy, but concluded that he had committed the offence.
It was clear from the EC regulations that the daily work period started from the moment the driver took over the vehicle, he added, and it would be curious if a driver were not required to use a tachograph when driving home after his day's work had ended.
Taking account of the purpose of the legislation to promote public safety, Brown concluded the work period did not end until a driver ceased to drive.