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Guilty end of the me for the °livers

24th February 2005
Page 6
Page 6, 24th February 2005 — Guilty end of the me for the °livers
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The partners of William Martin Oliver must sell up and they face jail after being found guilty of conspiracy. Mike Jewell reports.

THE THREE PARTNERS in Hexham-based William Martin Dliver & Partners could face jail ifter being found guilty of conspirng to falsify tachograph records.

Stuart Oliver, and his parents Wiliam and Marion Oliver have intil 18 March to ;ell the business. Fudge Timothy Hewitt -emanded all bree partners on conditional bail — they must surrender their passports and attend Hexham police station every day until sentencing.The directors of the company, which employs 155 staff, must also pay 1630,000 in costs.

They had all pleaded not guilty at Newcastle upon Tyne Crown Court to conspiring with more than 70 drivers. But the jury returned unanimous verdicts following a trial lasting almost five weeks.

This followed an eight-week trial last June when the jury failed to reach a verdict (CM I7 June 2004). In July 2002 ten of the firm's drivers were jailed for two months after admitting falsifying tachograph records and a further 15 were ordered to do community service of 100-240 hours. Seven other drivers were fined a total of £4,850 for similar offences.

Prosecuting for VOSA, Mark Laprell said the offences came to light after police and traffic examiners raided the firm's premises and the Oliver's house following an anonymous complaint.

The drivers subsequently pleaded guilty to falsifying tachograph records on a huge scale. The court heard how the three defendants agreed with the drivers that they would falsify tachograph records.

Laprell said the conspiracy had gone on for the best part of three years and during that time 70 or more people had been engaged in what was a criminal activity. It was blindingly obvious to anyone who looked at the tachograph records that illegal irregularities were being perpetrated on a daily basis.

Drivers had interfered with the electrical supply to their tachographs, he added.

The worrying feature was that once the electrical supply was interrupted it was impossible to say how long the driver concerned had been driving — he could have been driving round the clock.


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