Examiner channelled mho checks through son's firm
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by Sally Nash The latest scandal to rock the Vehicle Inspectorate involves a traffic examiner who has been suspended after he allegedly told hauliers to use the services of a specific tachograph agency—in which his son was involved.
At the end of a difficult year for the VI, it was forced to admit this week that it had suspended a traffic examiner "while disciplinary investigations are carried out".
The move had been sparked by customer complaints, it revealed.
The examiner from Leicestershire is understood to have visited operators' premises, telling them that their current tachograph agency was not up to the job and recommending his son's.
A wide-ranging investigation is now underway as the VI talks to fleet operators and tachograph agencies to establish what went on.
In an official statement, the VI said: "It must be stressed that suspension is not a disciplinary penalty and in no way implies a decision about the case."
The case first came to light when rival tachograph agencies found they were losing business and wondered why.
One even drafted in a private investigator to look into the matter. The agency. which wishes to remain anonymous, says there are now highlevel discussions taking place with the VI.
The VI also now faces having to trawl through its records to look at all the transport companies that the traffic examiner dealt with to check for any anomalies.
And the case might prompt renewed calls for action to clamp down on examiners and police who abuse the information they have access to in the course of their jobs—if, for example, they set up their own business and use their former contacts.
The VI has suspended another examiner in an unrelated incident. This is an internal matter "involving management of time and resources", says the VI.
In March this year, two VI testers based at Purfleet Testing station were jailed for their parts in a fraudulent annual test certificates scam. Both men had large sums of cash confiscated.