• International haulier PJK European Transport walked away from conspiracy
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charges last week when the Crown Prosecution Service ordered that the case brought against it by Sussex police should be dropped.
The action removed the possibility of heavy fines and jail sentences for 11 of the company's staff and one subcontractor.
It also allows the Portsmouth company to claim back from the central fund the legal fees incurred in the last year. PJK will be asking for up to £40,000.
The 10 drivers, director Paul Kingsley and subcontractor Mark Dellagarno had been charged last year under the little-used Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981, for alleged drivers' hours offences committed abroad.
Sussex police had hoped they had found a new weapon for dealing with suspected drivers' hours infringements carried out in other European Union states.
PJK legal advisor Colin Ward says: "The charges should never have happened ... There never was a conspiracy".