FedEx driver caught out
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• A Federal Express driver was given a sixmonth suspended prison sentence and was fined 2250 plus £415 costs after trying to fool the police by producing the wrong tachograph chart when he was charged with driving with undue care and attention.
Harold Begbie, of Roseburn Terrace, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court to attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Prosecuting, Mark Laprelle said an off-duty police officer on the M6 in an unmarked car noticed an HGV travelling in the middle lane behind him. He was travelling at 96Iunih (60mph) but the vehicle soon caught up.
The officer tried to make the vehicle pull over onto the hard shoulder, but the driver just shook his head. He then put a sticker in his car window, showing he was a policeman, but the driver still refused to pull over. He radioed ahead to officers at a service area.
Begbie's tacho subsequently showed a perfect journey for the day in question. But when checked with charts for the rest of the week, the distance traces did not match up.
Keith Thomas, representing Begbie, said he had always maintained that the car pulled out in front of him in a dangerous manner. It was Federal Express policy for drivers not to stop, except for the police, because of the possibility of hijacking.
Begbie had been driving HGVs for 14 years, and had never been involved in an accident or been convicted of any offence. The offence was out of character.
Sentencing, Judge Lynch said it was incredible that a man of his background was now standing in the dock. He had gone to great lengths to show that the police officer was wrong, and a great deal of thought had been put into this offence. But he had pleaded guilty, and that made a great deal of difference, showing he felt some remorse.