Jaines loses and wins
Page 19
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• Father and son John and Andrew James lost their 0licence when they were held to no longer meet the requirement to be of good repute because of the falsification of tachograph records. Now the business has won a new five-vehicle/trailer licence for a probationary period of 12 months.
In granting the licence, for five vehicles and trailers, to Nicholas, Majotie and Angela James, trading as Transmase of Louth, Lincolnshire, Eastern Licensing Authority Brigadier Compton Boyd, has warned that they will lose it if they are convicted of a single offence in the future.
Traffic Examiner Michael Thorns said that after complaints from other hauliers that the firm's drivers were running excessive hours, the partners were fined around 22,500 for a large number of offences in 1985. The complaints continued, and JoluiJaines and his son Andrew were fined by the Crown Court after a number of false charts were found.
The licence was revoked last July but a three-vehicle interim licence granted, so that the family could reorganise the partnership. A week later he was told five vehicles were being operated. An investigation led to the partners being fined for offences of unauthorised use and failures to retain and produce records.
He visited the premises on 1 June and examined 357 charts, discovering 129 immediately identifiable offences, 102 of which related to the use of manual charts in automatic tachographs. There were 19 instances of drivers' hours offences, three journeys for which there were no charts, three charts so dirty as to be virtually unreadable and others that had not been properly completed.
He conceded that since Nicholas James had commenced working full-time in the business in March there appeared to be greater organisation.
Nicholas James said that be now spent three days each week checking charts, and he proposed entering a contract with the Freight Transport Association for them to check batches of charts periodically. His father and brother were now employed solely as drivers.
Boyd said there seemed to be a glimmer of hope, but he was not totally convinced. He was prepared to give the partners a chance but if they appeared before him again, they would be taking their own licence away.