Ex-haulier must pay up for ushing driver to the limit
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• by Cal Newsdesk A former haulier has been found negligent and could face a bill running into six figures after pushing a driver to breaking point with devastating consequences.
Driver David Gill, who feared he would never walk again after breaking his back in three places, told Carlisle County Court that his boss had threatened to withhold his wages if he turned down two gruelling runs to Scotland.
The accident happened in May 1997, but proceedings against John Goddard of Kingstown-based John Goddard Haulage were only issued last year.
On the day of the accident Gill had driven until 01:38hrs and had worked a three-hour shift as a postman later that morning. But Goddard ordered him to drive an HGV to Glasgow and then north of Perth to Cooper Angus, before returning to Carlisle with another load by 02:00hrs the following day Gill never completed the journey. At 03:20hrs he fell asleep at the wheel; his MAN reefer ran off the A74 near Moffatt, Dumfrieshire and over a 100ft cliff, ending up in a river.
Judge John Phillips ruled that Goddard, who ran 23 trucks at the time but went bankrupt in 1999, had behaved negligently by ordering Gill to work knowing he was too tired to drive safely.
Gill was a full-time postman and a part-time driver for Goddard. It was not unusual for him to drive for 30 hours a week in addition to his contracted 37/, hours as a postman.
A married father-of-three, he had a large overdraft and was in arrears with his mortgage, said Phillips.
Gill said Goddard was the type of man who "continually pushed his workers beyond their limits" in order to satisfy customers, even ordering them to break the drivers' hours rules.
But Goddard insisted that he dealt with drivers reasonably and ran his business legally. He said he would not risk safety, threaten to withhold wages or insist on a dri
ver working when he was tired.
In the hours before the accident Gill sai he kept himself awake by chain smoking an drinking coffee. Describing the phone call i which Goddard persuaded him to drive fror Glasgow to Perth, Gill said: "I told him I wa absolutely wrecked. I could hardly keep m eyes open. He said it wasn't his problem."
Phillips concluded that Gill was an hones
witness, but sail Goddard was "much les credible". The haulier' desire to keep contract led him to apply "unwar ranted pressure" on Gil, "His driving was not product of a judgemen independently exercised it was a product of thi defendant's demands and those demand: amounted to negli
was not on gence," Phillips added the payroll Commenting on thE and was case, transport lawyei "just helpStephen Kirkbright says tE ing out". be found 75% negligent unusually high: "A dedsior like this must mean the dri ver was under some heavy pressure."
Gill's compensation will be decided at hearing next week. However it will Ix reduced by 25% as he had failed tc observe his weekly rest period.
Following the accident doctors told Gil he would be paralysed from the waist down but he has taught himself to walk again with the help of family and medical staff.
• See Comment, page 8.