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Jailed for working with false identity
Page 10
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io by Mike Jewell
A Manchester trucker who stole another driver's identity and illegally obtained work using his driving licence has been jailed for 12 months at Manchester Crown Court.
Rochdale magistrates had sent Jeffrey Banks to the Crown Court for sentence after he had pleaded guilty to 12 offences of falsifying tachograph records and six of obtaining wages by deception.
He had also asked for another 96 offences of falsifying tachograph records to be taken into account (CM29 Nov-5 Dec 2001).
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Paul O'Brien said that in April 2000 VI officers Neil Vesper and Michael Power launched Operation Neptune—an investigation into hauliers operating from the Manchester Containerbase. One of the operators investigated was Gary Pullen, trading as GBR Transport. From Pullen's tachograph and other records it seemed that one of his drivers concerned was a man named William McSweeney.
But when interviewed the real McSweeney said that he had not driven HGVs for 15 years and claimed that he had lost his driving licence. Further enquiries revealed that Banks had worked for a range of employers in the Greater Manchester area, many of them through driving agency First Logistics, which had unwittingly employed Banks under the false identity. He had earned more than E12,000.
For Banks, Mark Savill said that the offences had occurred because he was in debt to the tune of 15,000 after he lost his job following a drinkdriving conviction in 1991. He made the stupid decision to use the driving licence he had found in order to obtain employment so that he could pay back his debts, Savill added.
Judge Barry Woodward said that the tachograph offences had been committed while Banks was driving a 38-tonne antic. It would be wrong to speculate what other offences might have been committed but there was a serious risk involved.
The falsification of tachograph records were serious offences and they had been persistent and committed over a long period. The regulations were in place for the safety of the public.
Woodward sentenced Banks to nine months in Jail for the tachograph offences and another three months for obtaining pecuniary advantage; the sentences to run consecutively.