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Brought to justice
Page 38
Page 40
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A driver who operated illegally for 27 years and used a stolen licence is now behind bars. Patric Cunnane meets the team that nailed him.
The Metropolitan Police Commercial Vehicle Unit in South London is like the cat that got the cream. Its dogged detective work has been responsible for sending a man to jail who had been driving trucks illegally since 1979.
John Beverley Brown is serving two years after pleading guilty to 23 offences including the possession of a forged Irish driving licence and fraudulent tachograph charts.
Along the way he had assumed the identity of a perfectly innocent driver who was convicted and fined for offences that were nothing to do with him.The innocent man's ordeal lasted two years (see panel, page 40).
CM meets Sergeant Mark Thompson and Police Constable Collor McCarrick at the extensive vehicle pound in Charlton to learn about this case and other aspects of the CV Unit's work. The third member of the team, Police Constable David Storrar, is away hut praises are sung in his absence.
Document checks
The location is significant: the team is assisting in an operation designed to seize 100 uninsured cars and light CVs in one day. The owners are given two weeks to become compliant; otherwise their vehicles will be crushed."We're checking documents today because people sometimes carry hooky insurance certificates." Thompson reports.
The unit was set up in April 2005;Thompson, the unit leader, joined this January. The team works closely with Vosa, the Traffic Area Offices, Traffic Commissioners and insurers. The unit carries out a roadside check every week and monthly checks in partnership with Vosa and other agencies such as Environment and Customs.
"Our remit is to get out there and find the drivers committing the worst crimes," says Thompson. "It's a small team for such a big area: we can be called anywhere — we were recently in North-West London for a day.
"Generally we patrol South-East London. Common crimes are illegal or unlicensed drivers and there are a lot of illegal waste carriers around London."
The unit is also responsible for monitoring the transport of hazardous chemicals; it reports offenders to the Health and Safety Executive.
Vehicles are seized for a variety of reasons including the illegal disposal of waste. "The Environment Agency goes to court and gets a seizure order; we take them away," says McCarrick. Tippers and scaffolding vehicles are often driven on the wrong licence and it is not just small firms that are at fault. McCarrick cites a major London operator as a frequent offender, claiming: "You wouldn't get to the top of the street without seeing their name."
Impounding a truck requires an element of surprise to avoid confrontation. McCarrick holds a CI-E (LGV Class 1) licence and says the trick is to wait until the last moment:"We take the keys off the driver then drive the vehicle to a secure location." Owners have been known to turn up later and try to win their vehicle back in an aggressive manner.
The day before our visit, the team seized an uninsured 32-tonne tipper whose driver had no licence for that class of vehicle.These specialists in truck-related crime believe operators must be more rigorous in checking drivers' licences. "You may have a driver driving a 7.5-tonner on a car licence, or he may have had his licence revoked," says McCarrick."The problem is that firms don't check the licence with the DVLA."
Checking at recruitment stage is not enough. "The firm may take on a driver with the right licence, but it is then revoked and he does not tell them,"Thompson points out.
"This happens with medical tests after 45," adds McC.arrick,"Drivers fail but don't tell their boss.lhe DVLA only writes to the driver."
While medical records are confidential,there is an onus on the employer to ensure their drivers are legal. "They could ring the DVLA and simply ask if there's a problem," says MeCarrick.The DVLA will not provide details but could indicate if there is an area of concern.
Thompson says operators should check all drivers' licences every three months.
Knives and firearms
The unit encounters many other offences on its roadside checks. "We've arrested a number of foreign drivers for carrying bladed articles that are acceptable on the Continent Some will say, '1 use that for my food', even though it's a big flick-knife," saysThom pson,"I've arrested quite a few French drivers carrying CS gas canisters, which are classified as illegal firearms." The unit has a 'positive' arrest policy for weapons, which means that they always arrest offenders. "The problem is if they get into a road-rage incident there may be a tendency to use them," says Thompson. "However, we're not saying foreign drivers come here armed to the teeth we appreciate it's a different job being an international lorry driver."
On another occasion Thompson arrested a driver carrying hazardous goods after a DNA sample showed he was wanted for burglary. McCarrick has also arrested 10 Eritreans caught hiding in a shipment of grapes. "The grapes were ruined," he says wryly.
"We deal with anything we come across," says Thompson. "The Beverley Brown case (see panel) took a huge number of staff hours, but the message it sends to the trucking community is that illegal drivers get dealt with." McCarrick backs up that view: "We want to make the roads safer for decent operators and get those off the road who are acting illegally and undermining them."
The team is clearly dedicated to its role, bringing a mixture of skills to the work in hand. Mark Thompson is a career policeman who has wide experioence in several areas but sums up his approach quite simply: "I've always been a street copper really."
Before joining the Met 13 years ago, McCarrick was a truck driver, a carpenter and worked on the buildings. "It's been an education working with Conor," Thompson smiles. "I could always identify a hooky UK driver licence but now I can identify an Irish one as well!" SI