Two days' charts, please
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THE IMPORTANCE of coach drivers always keeping their previous two days' tachograph charts with them was highlighted last week when London operator Wahl Coaches was prosecuted at Camberwell Magistrates Court.
Wahl driver Ronald Thirlwell first pleaded guilty to two summonses for failing to take a weekly rest period during a British tour last June. Instead of taking a rest day in Stratford-onAvon during the tour, Thirlwell drove a day excursion rather than employing a relief driver. He told the court that he was used to the old British driving regulations under which he could drive legally for 13 days before having a day off. During this particular tour he was ill and, pre-occupied with this, he overlooked the rest day.
The magistrate recognised that on this fairly leisurely tour there was no element of excessive driving leading to a high accident risk and fined Thirlwell £30 for each of the two offences.
Acting for Wahl, Stuart Stevens pleaded not guilty to the corresponding two summonses for the company permitting the above two offences, stating that the rest day was laid down in the tour itinerary. The Department of Transport offered no evidence in respect of these two summonses and they were dismissed.
Wahl pleaded guilty to two summonses for their drivers failing to have their previous two days' tachograph charts with them.
The magistrate fined the company £50 for each of the two offences, plus £75 costs.
Wahl Coaches was given an absolute discharge for operating a coach with a tachograph which had its calibration seal missing. It explained that the coach was the first of a batch of 20 new Mercedes-Benz. There had been teething problems with it and although the Department of Transport had passed the coach the missing seal had been overlooked until a random spot check at Carmarthen last June.