Whittaker tack fine quashed
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• Preston Crown Court has quashed a £1,000 fine imposed on NL Whittaker by Lancaster magistrates for failing to have a two-year tachograph calibration check.
The court heard that the tachograph calibration was seven months out of date. For the company, John Backhouse said the company used Pye Motors of Lancaster to service its vehicles and calibrate its tachographs. A note had been made on the April inspection record form that the six-yearly check was due shortly. Whittaker's assumed this had been done when no note appeared on the next inspection report form. Because of that, it was assumed that the two-yearly check was in order but in fact it had already expired. The tachograph was checked within a day or two of the vehicle being stopped last July
Quashing the fine, and substituting a conditional discharge for 12 months, Judge Appleton said the court accepted that the magistrates had been wrong to impose such a heavy
fine when the defendant company was not seriously at fault, He directed that the company's appeal costs be paid out of public funds,