Fiddling is admitted
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• MRS Distribution of Bathgate has been fined £10,000 with 2.850 costs after it admitted falsifying tachograph charts before Derby Crown Court.
The company admitted five counts of falsification, and Judge James Orrell directed that five more similar charges should be held on file.
Nine MRS drivers were recently fined a total of £2,700 for tachograph falsification. Chesterfield police had mounted a number of checks on MRS before seizing a number of tachograph charts. It appeared that the company had been ignoring EC legislation, said Patrick Gallagher, prosecuting. Some drivers were driving continuously for up to 20 hours a day.
The method adopted was to interfere with the tachograph by pulling the in-line fuse. One of the company's drivers had an accident on the M6 after falling asleep at the wheel; another had been sacked when he refused to take a load from Bathgate to Kilbride; and a third said that he was lucky if he got four hours sleep a night. It was clear that the drivers were doing far in excess of what was permitted and managing director William Scott was certainly aware of what was taking place, said Gallagher. The drivers were required to produce tachograph charts that appeared to comply with the regulations, and they had spare charts to enable them to do so.
Judge Orrell said there had been deliberate and flagrant breaches of the EC tachograph legislation. If a company had chosen to act in that way, and was not deterred by the courts, others would be tempted to do the same.