France plans to jail hours de breakers
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by Martial Tardy
• The French are threatening to jail drivers who fiddle tachographs in a massive clamp-down following last week's coach crash in Avignon in which 22 people died.
Tachograph offences are now considered a criminal offence in France and maximum penalties have been increased to a year's imprisonment and fines of up to FF200,000 (L26,500). The same sanctions also apply to those caught tampering with speed limiters. The new regulations were scheduled before the crash, but the accident has highlighted the issue.
France's trans port secretary Anne-Marie Idrac says any vehicle found committing tachograph offences will be "immobilised for a full examination" and any "irregularities discovered in France will be punished no matter what the nationality of the owner of the vehicle".
A French Government spokesman says that foreign operators should not worry about over-zealous French officials, the traditional fear of the British haulier. "Anyone working inside the law has nothing to fear," says the spokesman.
The clamp-down has come after the preliminary findings of the Avignon crash showing the two drivers had not been working to hours limits and had repeatedly turned off the tachograph.