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Two drivers disqualified from Belgian flagged-out operation
Page 35
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Tachograph fiddling and drivers' hours offences have led to two drivers
being disqualified from holding HGV licences — in one case for two years.
A DRIVER previously jailed for tachograph fiddling and described as "unsafe on the roads" has been banned from holding an HGV licence for two years. A second driver working for the same company has lost his licence for 12 months. The pair had committed drivers' hours, tachograph and speed-limiter offences. Both drivers worked for Mcndlesham-based Gary Banham, who operates under a Belgian 0-licence, Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney was told that driver Peter Ransome had been sentenced to six months' imprisonment in May 2004 for falsifying tachograph charts. In May 2005 he had been fined £3,000 with £115 costs for falsifying a tachograph record in September 2004. Other charts in his vehicle revealed further speeding and drivers' hours offences.
Ransome said he hadn't wanted to work for Banham's organisation again but his prison sentence made him an unattractive employee to other hauliers. He continued working for Banham after May 2005 as Banham had lent him £2,000 to cover part of the fine. He admitted removing a lose to disable the speed limiter.
Revoking Ransome's licence and disqualifying him for two years, the DTC said that when given the prison sentence for falsifying tachograph charts a number of other drivers' hours and tachograph offences had been taken into consideration. Ransome continued to offend immediately after being discharged from prison on parole. When stopped in the roadside check, Ransome had lied to the traffic examiner to conceal his tachograph manipulation. Regarding the second driver, the DTC heard that a vehicle displaying a Belgian registration number and driven by Paul Weston had been stopped in a roadside check. Weston had said that he was self-employed and working for Lotransport BVBA, based at Norwich Road, Mendlesham, and that he took his instructions from Gary Banham. It was discovered that a blown fuse had been inserted into the fuse box, disabling the tachograph and the speed limiter.
Weston admitted to destroying a tachograph chart and failing Louse a chart the following day in order to conceal inadequate rest.
In reply to the DTC. Weston said all six vehicles operated by Lotransport were right-hand drive, principally used in the UK from Mendlesham and primarily driven by drivers living in the UK.
Traffic examiner Gardner said that normally the result of the check would be followed up by visiting the operator's premises and checking the tachograph charts. In the case of an operator flagged out to Belgium that was impossible. •