Tad° regs views differ
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• The EC tachograph regulations are being wrongly interpreted by the enforcement agencies, according to Alan Gurley, the Bus and Coach Council's director of technical and operational matters.
Gurley was giving evidence at Chelmsford Crown Court during the trial of Frank Harris Coaches of West Thurrock, its transport manager Frank Douglas Harris, and six drivers, on charges alleging the falsification of tachograph charts.
Frank Harris Snr, a director, had earlier claimed that the journeys concerned in the allegations had been scheduled in accordance with Gurley's advice about the interpretation of the regulations.
Gurley said he had been involved in the negotiations surrounding the preparation and formation of the EC Regulations. He had regularly consulted with John Wilson of Frank Harris Coaches. Although he had taken part in the preparation of the Department of Transport booklet, he did not believe it adequately covered the flexibility the regulations offered.
He maintained that the word in Article 8 of the regulations relating to a 24-hour period should be translated as each and not every.
Dealing with the individual journeys concerned, Gurley said that it was a common fault for tachographs to be 12 hours out. In some instances there had been tachograph malfunctions and in others drivers had made errors.
After copies of leaflets distributed at BCC seminars were produced in court, Gurley agreed that the advice in the BCC handouts agreed with that of the DTp. He accepted that if the police and DTp interpretation was correct, the journeys concerned had been illegal.
Pressed by Tony Abell, prosecuting, Gurley said that he would not have given the company advice based on his own interpretations.
The trial was in its eleventh week and is expected to last for two more.