Heavy Penalty Sought in "Hours" Case
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TO excess of zeal on the part of tbe men and slackness on the part of a clerk were attributed what the prosecution described as an " appalling '' state of affairs concerning drivers' hours when 26 summonses were heard against Mr. Francis Searle Huxham, trading as fluxharn and Co., 7, Sutton Road, Plymouth, and others against seven of his employees, at Plymouth city police court, last Friday.
Mr.'Huxham' Was surnmOned for having 'permitted certain men to drive goods :vehicles 'beyond the ' statutory periods, for having failed to cause them to keep a current reccird when driving. such 'vehicles, and for haying failed, when required to do so by a traffic examiner; to produCe the records of a driver,
Prosecuting on behalf of the Western T.icensing Authority, Mr: A. C. Fabyan Windeatt obServed that a Icing and detailed investigation was undertaken by a traffic ,examiner, who eXamined drivers' records for April, May, June and part of July. The state of affairs disclosed was, in the opinion of the Li-cc:ash:1g Authority, appalling. The summonses were only part of those that could have been issued.
In some instances, records had been, altered and times. had been given of men finishing their work when, in fact, they were still working. Mr. Windeatt said that He was instructed not to press the charges against the men, but in the case of the employer he was asked to request the magistrates to take a serious view, Mr. W. E. J. Major, for the defence, addressing the magistrates, alluded to the difficulty which drivers often experienced in delivering' their goods at certain times. It was also a temptation to them, when they were only about half an hour from home, to complete their journeys without stopping. Mr. Huxham had arranged for notices to be faxed in the cab of every lorry to the effect that the Acts must be obeyed.
The defendant could not personally supervise the records, 'and his clerk had .sometimes failed to do so: There was no need for men to have driven more than the stipulated hours, and, when they had done so, it was often an excess of zeal.
The magistrates dismissed the cases against the employees, but fined the employer 10s. on each summons and ordered him to pay £5 towards the costs.