Liberty is found guilty at Frome
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• Drivers' hours and tachograph offences and the unauthorised use of a vehicle cost Frome-based Liberty Trading and three of its drivers .E5,685 in fines and costs.
The company admitted six offences of using a vehicle not covered by its 0-licence, but denied 11 offences of permitting drivers to exceed the hours limits and to take insufficient rest.
Prosecuting for the Western Traffic Area, Edward Lyons told Frame magistrates that the offences had been committed over a period of six months, though the charges before the court related only to January and February.
The company held a licence for two vehicles, but it had hired a third when it had no authority to do so. An examination of the tachograph charts revealed hours offences and up to 3,700km were unaccounted for. The offences should have been picked up if the company had been carrying out proper checks on the charts handed in by the drivers, said Lyons.
Liberty Trading director Eugene Gillespie said the company had been operating since July 1989. It had been under the impression that it could hire a vehicle for a month before having to specify it on its licence.
The drivers had been regularly warned about keeping to the hours limits, but had carried on committing offences, he said. Two of the three drivers concerned had since been sacked. Liberty was a small company and had been under presssure to get the work done.
In reply to Lyons, Gillespie admitted that the company's administration had not been all that it might have been.
The magistrates fined the company £3,400 with £900 costs and commented that it had acted irresponsibly.