Firm chalks up multiple fines
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• A driver employed by IDS Transport of Honeybourne, Worcestershire, pulled the fuse to stop his tachograph recording after an interrupter switch he had fitted failed to work, Evesham Magistrates heard.
Drivers hours offences, offences involving the falsification of tachograph records, and a speed limiter which had been interfered with, cost the firm's two partners and six of its drivers a total of £2,675 in fines and costs.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Beverley Bell said the offences were revealed by a fairly long and complicated investigation.
Driver Richard Hobbs had fitted a push-pull switch to the tachograph on a brand new vehicle. When it went in for its first service
the switch was found and the dealer reported it to the firm and the DOT.
When asked about fullscale deflections on two charts with unrecorded mileage, Hobbs said he had pulled the fuse because the switch did not work. He also admitted disfiguring the second chart in an effort to hide the full-scale deflection.
Bell said two charts belonging to driver William Tarry showed full-scale deflections and unrecorded distance. Tarry had written "tacho not working right" on the back of the second chart. That was not correct. Not only did Tarry falsify the tecordings; he tried to hide his offence with the manual entry Tarry had also committed a 4.5hr driving offence, as had the other four drivers before the court. One driver's charts showed speeds in excess of 60mph—the speed limiter had been tampered with.
Defending, Andrew Fletcher said the falsification offences had been committed for human reasons: Hobbs and Tarry wanted to get home because of domestic problems.
All the 4.5hr offences were extremely minor in nature: neither the firm nor the drivers had made any profit out of the offences.
The driver had been the only one who had known that the speed limiter was not working and it was the type of fault that a driver was not going to report to his employer.
Hobbs was fined 1450 with £100 costs for two offences of falsifying charts and one offence of attempting to falsify a chart. Tarry was fined £550 with 1100 costs for three offences of falsification and one 4.5hr offence. Nicholas Habbits, Michael Martin, and Frederick Sherlock were each fined £100 with £95 costs for one 4.5hr hour offence. And Neil Layton was fined £400 with £95 costs for four 4.5hr offences.
Partners Ian Dyer and Derek Simms were each fined 1150 with £47.50 costs for using a vehicle with an uncalibrated speed limiter. Allegations that they had permitted the drivers' 4.5hr offences were dropped.