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Action pending after 348 tacho offences
Page 26
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A FOOD OIL tanker operator faces action against its licence after a week-long public inquiry involving 348 tachograph fiddling offences and convictions that attracted fines of £13,500.
Armet Logistics, which is based in Liverpool, must wait to see what action will be taken against its two 0-licences having been convicted of falsifying tachos.
The company, which holds licences in the North West for 20 vehicles and 30 trailers and in the North East for 10 vehicles and 10 trailers, was called before Traffic Commissioner Sarah Bell at a public inquiry that lasted a week.
Twenty-seven drivers had been convicted of 348 offences of falsification over a six-month period. The company was convicted of failing to produce correct tacho records and using vehicles when drivers kept an incomplete record, being fined £13,500 with £600 costs.
Traffic examiner Joanne Henharren said the offences were revealed by a comparison of timesheets, weight tickets and the tachograph charts. There were excessive amounts of duty time for which the drivers were paid that did not appear on the charts.
On occasion, timesheets were endorsed: "Tipped off the card".
Approximately 34,940km were unaccounted for. She said that although there were system failures, she considered that the management had "looked away" and had chosen not to know.
Managing director Charles Lucy said he had not known about the problems until a VOSA investigation.
The timesheets were never looked at in conjunction with the tacho charts. They were considered only in respect of information needed for invoicing customers and drivers' pay.
Jobs had been planned so that there should not have been pressure on the drivers. Lucy had also failed to appreciate the pressure that was being put on the drivers by customers at various refineries.
In one case, where the customer had refused to co-operate, they had not renewed a contract. The company had carried out everything possible to put thing right and he now worked very closely with his transport managers and the company's tachograph analyst.
The TC is to put her decision in writing at a future date.