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Fined £5,500 for permitting tacho fiddling
Page 30
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A COMPANY whose driver invented an imaginary friend to fiddle tachograph charts has been ordered to pay fines and costs of £5,500 by Chelmsford magistrates, Grays-based Walker Transport Services was ordered to pay the penalties after being found guilty of three offences of permitting the falsification of tachograph charts by its former driver Kenneth Bradshaw.
Jacqueline Devonish, prosecuting for Vosa, said operators had a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent contraventions by drivers. By not checking the drivers' hours or enquiring about charts handed over in the name of "Joe Page", who was not their driver, the company had failed in its duty.
While the company maintained that it regularly sent tachograph charts to an independent analyst, it had not informed the analysts that "Joe Page" was not a driver for the company. Therefore, the analysts would not have been able to identify contraventions. The company was thereby complicit in permitting the false charts by not taking reasonable steps. Bradshaw had been motivated to drive to earn more. By providing such a financial incentive, Walker Transport was encouraging infringements of the regulations.
Bradshaw said he had been pressured to accept more work than he could reasonably manage. When he complained, he was threatened with the loss of his job since the company benefited financially from his wrongdoing. He had admitted completing charts in the name of "Joe Page" to conceal the fact he was driving when he should have been taking his daily rest.
The company was fined £1,000 per offence, with prosecution costs of £2,500.
Bradshaw had earlier been fined £2,250 with £250 costs at Chelmsford Crown Court (Driver with imaginary mate fined £2.500% CM 28 February).