Q If a traffic clerk alters an entry on a driver's
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record sheet, can he be prosecuted? I know that in some circumstances alterations are permissible but I cannot find any reference to this in Part VI of the Transport Act 1968.
AAlterations to journey record sheets are permissible where the alteration is being made to correct a genuine mistake.
Authority for this is given in Regulation 11 of the Drivers' Hours (Goods Vehicle) (Keeping of Records) Regulations 1970 which came into operation on March 1 1970.
The Regulation prohibits the erasure or obliteration of an entry once it has been made in the driver's record book but if. a correction is required the regulation states that the original entry shall be struck Out in such a way that it can still be read, and initialled by the person making the correction. It does not state that the driver should make the correction. It therefore follows that a traffic clerk authorized to do so by his employer is entitled to make corrections provided he does so in accordance with Regulation 11.
However, any person who makes an alteration which he knows to be false with intent to deceive is liable to a fine of £200 or two years' imprisonment on indictment.