Haulier tried to do it all fined £1,600
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A Lancashire haulier who was said to have tried to do too much himself has been ordered to pay £1,600 in fines and costs for permitting drivers to breach the 41/2-hour driving rule. Leonard Smith, trading as Mercian Transport, of Heywood, pleaded guilty at Rochdale magistrates court to seven offences of permitting drivers to exceed 41/2
I driving without the required break.
Prosecuting, Peter Cave said the drivers' hours regulations were designed to promote safety. "It is a good idea, as far as road safety is concerned, if a driver is awake while driving," he said,
Cave added that employers had to have a reasonably effective system to check that their drivers were complying with the regulations. Smith had not had such a system. When 53 tacho charts were examined for one driver they found 39 breaches. In other cases 45 charts revealed 28 breaches; and 61 revealed 27.
It was not suggested Smith had been telling drivers to break the rules. Instead, said Cave, he had either wilfully shut his eyes to the obvious or had deliberately not checked the records_ John Backhouse, defending, said Smith had been checking the charts himself. As he had admitted, his checking had left a great deal to be desired. He simply flipped through them and made a more thorough check of a sample if he had time later.
It was a comparatively young business. said Backhouse, and Smith had been trying to do too much at the time. Once the problem became apparent a former traffic examiner started checking the charts.
Smith was fined £1,400 with £200 costs. Driver Geoffrey Whitehouse was fined £300 for two 4½hour offences and one daily driving offence, with £25 costs. Driver Bernard Rocca was fined £1,400 for 10, 41/2-hour offences with .C25 costs. Driver Norman Ponica was fined L700 for five 4½hour offences and one daily driving offence, with .C25 costs.
At a previous hearing, drivers Christopher Shatwell and Paul Shatwell had each been fined £400, with .C60 costs, driver Michael Shatwell had been fined £200 with £60 costs.