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Haulier's appeal is rejected by Tribunal

15th January 2009
Page 22
Page 22, 15th January 2009 — Haulier's appeal is rejected by Tribunal
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Operator who paid his drivers a bonus for working illegal hours "richly deserved" his custodial sentence

A HAULIER WHO was jailed for manslaughter after one of his drivers killed a motorist has lost his appeal against an indefinite disqualification.

The Transport Tribunal concluded that the prison sentence he was given was -richly deserved".

The Tribunal dismissed an appeal by Martin Graves against the decision of Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Philip Brown, and refused to vary or cancel an order for his indefinite disqualification from holding an 0-licence in any Traffic Area.

In April 2003, Graves, who traded as M J Graves International, of Felixstowe, was given four years for gross negligent manslaughter and 12 months concurrent imprisonment for four offences of falsifying tacho records (CM 10-16 April 2003). One of Graves' drivers, Victor Coates, was also sentenced to four years in prison for manslaughter.

The manslaughter charges arose out of an accident when a lorry driven by Coates hit a stationary car that had broken down, killing the driver.

The prosecution said that Coates had fallen asleep at the wheel and that he must previously have been aware he was too tired to continue to drive.

Records showed he had started work at 0400 hours the previous day. He was still at work 20 hours later, which was a flagrant breach of the drivers' hours and tachograph regulations The vehicle's tacho records showed persistent falsification, and a number of days where there had been excessive hours of driving. Graves even paid his drivers a bonus if they worked long hours, which was illegal.

Analysis of the activities of the other drivers working for Graves revealed that eight out of the 17 employed were routinely breaking the law with regards to drivers' hours Four of those received terms of imprisonment, while a further three were tined.

In June 2003, the then Eastern Traffic Commissioner Geoffrey Simms revoked Graves' 0-licence and disqualified him indefinitely from holding such a licence.

At a fresh hearing last year, Graves told Eastern DTC Philip Brown that his current business was that of a freight forwarder, but he was being held back by his lack of an 0-licence.

In refusing to cancel or vary the disqualification order. the DTC said last August that the criminal activity and non-compliance with the 0-licensing regime outweighed the positive factors Before the Tribunal, Edmund Gritt, for Graves, argued that if the DTC had taken into account the many features in favour of Graves, he would have concluded the "objectives of the system" would be best served by permitting him to re-enter the system, rather than exclude him from it.

The Tribunal said that this was one of the worst cases they had known of the disregard of the drivers' hours rules and regulations. It was plain the jury at the Crown Court were satisfied about the causal connection between Graves' negligence and the death.

The Scottish Court of Session in the 1999 case of Thomas Muir (Haulage) Ltd versus Secretary of State for the Environment,Transport and the Regions mentioned that deterrence had its place in considering the objectives of the system and the public interest.They had no doubt a clear message must go out that conduct of the sort perpetrated by Graves was wholly unacceptable.


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