Court rules: records must be surrendered
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• by Mike Jewell In a landmark judgement that overturns legal advice often given to operators, the High Court has ruled that where an operator produces tachograph records to a traffic examiner but refuses to allow him to take them away the operator is guilty of failing to produce tachograph records—even if there is no suspicion that they have been falsified.
The High Court dismissed an appeal by Cantabrica Coach Holdings against its conviction by Hemel Hempstead magis trates for failing to produce tachograph records. The company had been fined 2400.
David Phillips QC, for Cantabrica, argued that the operator was only required to hand over records when a traffic examiner had given 10 days' notice that they must be handed in to the Traffic Commissioner.
Mr Justice Butterfield said that while there was no express power under the Transport Act 1968 for a traffic examiner to remove tachograph records from a company's premises, the EC regu lations contained a clear and unconditional requirement that the records must be handed over or request.
He added that on one reading of the legislation, the obligation on the operator was simply to "produce" records in the sense of offering them for examination by the Vehicle Inspectorate then and there. Only in circumstances where the VI had reason to believe that the records had been falsified was there an express power to take possession of them.
However, in Butterfield's judgement the operator was required to hand over tachograph records on demand at his premises. It was clear that the EC legislature had taken account of the need to ensure effective checking, he added: it was up to the traffic examiner to decide whether to inspect the records at the operator's premises or to take them away.