Drivers' hours record high
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• Four offences of permitting a driver to exceed his daily driving limit and to take insufficient rest were said to be some of the worst ever seen by Lancashire police, and cost R P Winder (Wholesale Meat), a director of the company and its traffic clerk £2,025 in fines and costs when they appeared before the Leyland magistrates.
The Morecambe-based company, director Thomas Little and traffic clerk Kenneth Woods each admitted four specimen charges.
One of the company's vehicles had been seen by a police officer weaving across the southbound lanes of a motorway. When stopped, driver Martin Newton said that he was glad because he had been "working all the hours that God sends".
For the prosecution, Keith Kirkham told the magistrates they were dealing with a firm that had allowed a driver to make a journey between Morecambe and Ramsgate and back again without taking sufficient rest. A tired driver was clearly a menace on the road, as shown by recent motorway accidents.
On 19 and 20 May Newton made the return journey in 36 hours 16 minutes, driving for 21 hours 51 minutes; his longest continuous rest period was six hours 41 minutes. He made the same run on 27 and 28 May in 20 hours eight minutes.
Jones said the wage sheets clearly showed that Newton had been paid an overnight allowance on each occasion. It had never been the company's intention that a driver should go to Ramsgate and return the same day.
The company, Little and Woods were each fined 2600 and ordered to pay £75 costs. Newton had previously been fined £225.