Off-road proof required
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• Middleton magistrates have adjourned a drivers hours case for the defence to produce documents showing the amount of off-road driving undertaken.
James Huyton of St Helens is accused of eight offences of exceeding 41 hours driving without taking the required break. His employer, Ray Wilson of Appley Bridge, is accused of permitting the offences.
PC Cameron Griffin of Greater Manchester Police said that the offences came to light after he stopped Huyton's 17-tonne tipper last July. Huyton had driven for periods of between 6hr 31min and 9hr 49min with breaks varying between 24 and 41min.
Questioned by John Backhouse, defending, Griffin acknowledged that counting from the start of driving Huyton had taken more than 45 minutes break after the first period of 41 hours aggregated driving.
From the end of the last break there was no further period of driving amounting to 41 hours in the aggregate. Griffin said he had not enquired about the work the vehicle was engaged upon.
He agreed that collection and delivery from quarries to building sites would involve off-road driving, and that the Dip suggested that such driving should be recorded in the "other-work" mode. He had assumed that any driving recorded in the drive mode had been on the public road and agreed that off-road driving was not counted as ''driving time" for the purposes of the regulations.
Michael Church-Taylor, prosecuting, said that when interviewed Huyton had said he was under the impression that a 30min break was sufficient and that he had had no training on tachographs.
Huy ton said he was moving sand from quarries; mostly to building sites. Five of those quarries were at least 400m off the road and he nearly always had to leave the road to tip onsite. He estimated that he spent at least 10 minutes driving offroad in the quarries.
Questioned by Church-Taylor, Huyton said that it was possible that he had recorded "other work" as "rest". He was unable to say from the tachograph charts exactly what he had been doing on each particular day.
Backhouse told the magistrates that the customer had documents that would supply such detail and they adjourned the hearing until the end of July for that evidence to be produced.