ban for tacho wires
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Traffic Commissioners are so concerned about violations of the drivers' hours and tachograph regulations that any driver found using a wire to interfere with his tachograph will be disqualified from holding an HGV driving licence for a year.
This was made plain by the Senior TO Michael Betts when Kenneth and Joan Williamson, trading as KC Williamson Haulage, of Kirkpatrick Fleming, and five of their drivers appeared before him at a Dumfries disciplinary inquiry.
Last June magistrates at Kendal, Cumbria ordered Williamson and the five drivers to pay fines and costs totalling £4,050 after they admitted falsifying tachograph records (CM2-8 July 1998).
For the partners and the drivers, Jonathan Lawton said the firm was currently operating two vehicles working as a subcontractor for Eddie Stobart.
Williamson had became increasingly dependent upon work supplied by Hayton Coulthard and eventually the firm's six vehicles were working wholly for Hayton, said Lawton. The work Hayton required Williamson and the drivers to do could not be done within the legal hours, he claimed. He said Williamson was frightened about the financial effect if they refused to do the work: Williamson had been faced with operating illegally or not working at all.
He had been working substantially in arrears, being owed up to £100,000 at any one time.
Sergeant David Erskine of the Cumbria Police said those allegations were now the subject of a joint investigation by his force, Dumfries and Galloway Police and the VI.
Williamson agreed with Betts that the police found wires in four of the vehicles, and that it was a reasonable deduction that they had played a part in the falsifications. The Commissioner pointed out that a vast proportion of traffic accidents were caused by driver error, many of which were caused by fatigue. Once tachograph records were falsified, there was no way of telling to what extent the hours limits had been breached.
Revoking the partners' 0licence, and disqualifying them from holding a licence for two years, the Commissioner said Williamson knowingly and intentionally broke the law and did not discourage his drivers from doing the same. The fact that he quickly obtained work with Eddie Stobart did not support the contention that he had no choice. His reputation in the haulage industry was in tatters and passing the buck to someone who was unable to answer simply would not do.
Betts revoked the HGV licences held by Williamson and the drivers, and disqualified them from holding licences for three months.