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Hockin wins VI battle
Page 16
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An operator has been "to hell and back" in his struggle to retain his 0-licence. David Taylor reports.
WEST COUNTRY operator William Hockin has described his three-and-a-half year fight to keep his 0-licence as a journey "to hell and back".
And Hockin, whose company William C Hockin Transport celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, has criticised the Vehicle Inspectorate for its heavy-handed tactics.
"I feel like someone who committed a speeding offence and has been put on trial for murder", he says, 'It was absolute hell."
Hockin's investigation and subsequent prosecution was the first in a series of similar cases heard by Exeter magistrates in early 2001 At the time it was cited by the Vehicle Inspectorate as a demonstration of the Increasingly close co-operationbetween VOSA and the police. However, a spokeswoman this week denied that VOSA had chosen to make an example of Hockin.
Hockin's licence was revoked following a six-month investigation into hours offences at the Barnstaple-based company. One manager and 23 drivers were convicted of 207 offences of falsifying tachograph charts; Hockin was banned from running a transport company for 12 months.
But late last year, after one unsuccessful appeal that resulted in the revocation being extended to two years. Hockin finally succeeded in having the revocation and disqualification orders quashed.
"The reason I won in the end is that justice was finally done", he says. "I admit I made mistakes, hut my only offence was working too bloody hard... I took my eye off the ball."
• A full interview %with Hockin will appear next week's CM.