BOYLE TRANSPORT
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In March this year two former directors at Northern Ireland haulage company Boyle Transport, who were sent to prison for falsification of tachograph records, were ordered to pay £1,835,793 under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Carlisle Crown Court was told how Patrick and Mark Boyle, both from Newry, County Down, were found to have benefited from their criminal activity to the sum of £10,016,810. Judge Peter Hughes QC gave Patrick six months to pay £1,097,622 to the public purse if the money is not paid in that time he will have to serve an extra five-and-a-half years in prison. Mark was given six months to pay £738,171 or face serving an extra four years behind bars. The pair were said to have various assets including family homes, 20 Scania trucks and 35 trailers. In April 2011, also at Carlisle Crown Court, Patrick and Mark were handed two-year and 18-month prison sentences respectively after pleading guilty to conspiring with drivers to make the false tacho records in February 2011. They
were also disqualified from acting as company directors for five years. It followed a joint investigation into the haulier dubbed Operation Cadillac which started in October 2008 and was conducted by Cumbria Constabulary
and Vosa. Approximately 18,000 documents were reviewed as part of the year-long investigation. It revealed that each digital tachograph owned by the Camlough-based company had been interfered with and that employees had been driving up to 22 hours a day and failing to take their lawful breaks.
During the criminal investigation, a Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 investigation was carried out by Vosa in conjunction with the North West Regional Asset Recovery Team. operators in a number of situations, hauliers should be aware that these cases are likely to be reserved for only the most serious instances of systemic and prolonged abuse of legislation. •
• For more information, contact Vikki Woodfine, head of road haulage and logistics at DVVF, on 0161 603 5060.