Speeding drivers have licences held
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• Six drivers who exceeded the 60mph limit while working for Bingley-based reefer operator Marchnight had their LGV driving licences suspended for three to 13 days when they appeared before North Eastern Deputy LA Brian Horner.
Traffic examiner Howard Mountain said he had checked the company's tachograph charts for November 1993. He examined 273 charts finding speeding incidents on 52 charts: Javid Northin, of Keighley had exceeded the 60mph limit on three days; Raymond Bailey, of Bingley, on 10 days; Peter Brady, of Keighley, on eight; Alan Boocock, of Keighley, on 13; Michael Flaherty, of Keighley, on six; and George Hogg, of Leeds, on seven days.
Hogg said he had broken the speed limit because of the pres sure of reaching delivery deadlines.
Flaherty said it was just pressure of work. He had been trying to get on with his job.
Brady said he had been told that if he did not get round and get his deliveries off he would be down the road and unemployed.
Suspending the licence in each case for the same number of days that they had been found to be speeding, Horner said that the drivers were responsible for their own licences. No matter what the employer said, it was the drivers' licences that were in jeopardy There was an increasing number of accidents involving heavy vehicles. A heavy vehicle in the wrong hands could be lethal. Speeding had been a factor in a number of catastrophic accidents.
Generally speaking, the haulage industry had a good reputation and its drivers were of a high standard. However, there were those who let the side down.
Warning the six of the consequences of further speeding, Horner said that if they appeared before him again he would take a much more serious view.