Series of offences
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led to 120,000 fine
by Jez Abbott A catalogue of tachograph, drivers hours and 0-licence breaches has left a Worcestershire-based haulage firm facing a £20,000 fine. Ferryfast Products of Honeybourne. near Evesham, which runs 29 trucks and 24 trailers, was charged with 18 counts of failing to keep tachograph records, 12 of failing to produce record sheets, five of having no 0-licence and four of permitting drivers to take insufficient rest.
Evesham magistrates heard that most of the offences had taken place at the end of 1999 and involved trucks running between Cornwall and Leeds. Drivers had failed to take the necessary breaks and about 13.000km were unaccounted for on their tacho charts. Lee Trubshaw, appear ing for the Vehicle Inspectorate, said: "Some of the drivers claimed they had not been trained in Lis rig tachographs."
The company pleaded not guilty to four charges of failing to produce record sheets on the grounds that it used the vehicles to deliver goods within a 50km radius and therefore qualified for exemption under an agricultural clause. This defence was rejected by the magistrates.
The 0-licence charges involved a 38-tonne Volvo which had a declared operating centre in Cornwall but was illegally based at Honeybourne. Mark Hammond, defending, argued that the vehicle only called at Honeybourne on its way north. "Now measures controlling the vehicle have now been imposed by the firm and a new manager has been appointed," he added.
The magistrates ordered the company to pay £3,500 costs. Five Ferryfast drivers were also fined; three for failing to take sufficient rest and two for using a vehicle with a non-functioning tachograph.