...while Tradeteam is
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cleared of 'blind eye'
▪ Tradeteam, the latest major haulage company to appear in court on tachograph charges, has been cleared of allowing its drivers to drive excess hours without a break.
Last week representatives of the Wolverhampton depot appeared before West Bromwich magistrates to plead not guilty to 25 charges of allowing drivers to drive in excess of 4.5 hours without a break.
Beverley Bell, prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, accused the firm of turning a "blind eye to the situation after a traffic examiner had carried out an inspection of tachographs at the firm. The offences were alleged to have taken place between 11May and 8 August last year.
But the magistrates decided the cases were not proved after Astra Emir, defending, told them that the firm had made a great effort to try and make drivers comply with the hours regulations.
Richard Morgan, the firm's operational manager, who is a former Wolverhampton magistrate, told the magistrates that he checked the tachographs and gave two of the firm's drivers a warning about not taking the required breaks. The company employed 34 HGV drivers.
He said that some of the drivers' records had gone missing and suggested that they might have been thrown into a skip when he was moved to a different office.