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Russell Davies 26 fined
Page 23
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• A series of drivers' hours and tachograph offences led to 26 drivers employed by three Russell Davies Group companies being fined a total of £4,305 by Felixstowe Magistrates last week.
Prosecuting, John Everitt said the convictions followed information from the police. Sergeant Sturman carried out tachograph checks over two weeks. The checks revealed that in many cases drivers had withdrawn charts from tachographs on reaching Felixstowe docks, before queuing up to load another container for the following day's journey. The prosecution maintained that drivers' rest periods should have started when they arrived at the docks. At the time only two shunt drivers were employed at Felixstowe, when about 12 were needed to enable drivers to take adequate rest.
When the tachograph charts were examined, it was clear that other offences had also been committed. For instance, fuses had been pulled to enable drivers to drive for longer than allowed.
For the drivers, Anthony Smythe said the court was not dealing with criminals, but with drivers who had conscientious ly discharged their duties. They had been subjected to considerable pressure. The drivers were governed by tight schedules and restricted by the movement of ships.
He pointed out that the offences fell into three categories. There were the "dock shunt" cases, where offences were committed while vehicles moved around the docks. In a number of cases the drivers had mistakenly believed that when working at the docks they did not have to stick to the hours' and tachograph regulations. There were a few instances where drivers had just run out of hours and gone over their time limit. And there were the "missing kilometre" cases, where drivers, realising
they were running out of time, had taken the chart out of the tachograph, or in one or two instances had disconnected the electrical supply. One driver had also used his tractor unit as private transport.
Smythe said there was no financial incentive for drivers to exceed their hours; when they arrived at the docks they were required to load and unload if no shunter was available.
Another 30 drivers are due to be dealt with by magistrates in March, and in May Russell Davies (UK), Russell Davies Europe and Russell Davies Haulage are due to answer charges involving 107 alleged tachograph offences and six charges of failing to produce tachograph charts.