Wincanton is hit for permitting...
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• byMike.leveell Breaches of the domestic drivers' hours rules have led Traffic Commissioner David Dixon to out Wincanton's West Midland licence by 20 vehicles for three weeks.
Wincanton holds a licence in the West Midland Area authorising 694 vehicles and 1,028 trailers. In January Walsall magistrates ordered the company to pay 5..29,200 in fines with £1,465 costs after it admitted allowing 12 drivers to exceed the permitted 11-hour day under the domestic drivers' hours rules while working on a milk contract (CM 28 Jan-3 Feb).
When Wincanton appeared before the IC at a Birmingham disciplinary inquiry it was argued that the breaches had to be looked at in the context of the company's blameless record and the fact that it involved a very small part of the total operation. Seven vehicles were engaged on the contract out of a daily operation of 2,800 vehicles. Wincanton's 14 other raw milk contracts were all running legally.
The inquiry heard that because the collection of raw milk was exempt from the tachograph rags, the three managers at the Darlaston depot—supervisor Frank Lakin, transport manager John Sandy and regional contracts manager Mike Flavellconsidered that no drivers' hours rules applied either.
All three had since been dismissed (CMS-14 July).