Drivers did not know rules
Page 18
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Three Lancashire ownerdrivers were granted 12month conditional discharges after Blackburn magistrates accepted that their failure to keep complete tachograph records resulted from a misunderstanding of the law.
These cases are part of a series ifIVOiVing 38 tipper owners and drivers which were triggered by 'Operation Flintstone", an investigation mounted by the Vehicle Inspectorate into operations at Tarmac quarries in the Clitheroo area. At previous hearings 23 owner-drivers and drivers were ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £9,960 after pleading guilty to similar offences and, in some cases, to falsifying tachograph records (CM 15-21 July; 26 Aug-1 Sept; and 9-15 Sept).
Prosecuting for the VI, John Heaton said the hours and tachograph regulations existed for road safety purposes. Tachograph records were worthless or greatly devalued if they were incomplete.
The three men had failed to record part of their working day, he added, as they had not put charts in their tachographs until late in the morning.
Defending, Michael Cunningham said the vehicles operated by the owner-drivers were financed and insured through Tarmac and painted in Tarmac colours. They were contracted to work for Tarmac although in theory they could work for other people by giving notice and getting Tarmac's con sent, but he added: "Believe me, Tarmac never grants consent because the owneroperators would be carrying tarmac for someone else."
"These cases have really put the cat among the pigeons," Cunningham told the court. "If the Inland Revenue ever looked at the situation I don't believe that they would accept these drivers are really selfemployed. What happens when Tarmac rings up and needs the wagon and is told by the owner-operator that he has finished and he can't gat another driver, is that Tarmac says `I'll give this work to another subcontractor tonight and tomorrow's work too'."
What the drivers had not appreciated was that driving off the highway amounted to other work and not rest, said Cunningham. They were wrong in their understanding of the law but they were not criminals. These were family men with mortgages and they were financially committed to the hilt with these vehicles.
The magistrates ordered the three, Thomas Carnal!, of Charley, and Graham Seed and Gary Swales, both of Clitheroe. to pay 175 each in costs.