Crash reveals tacho offences
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by Mike Jewell • Seven drivers employed by Nottingham based Fernwood Transport have been fined a total of £2,100 by Nottingham magistrates for falsifying tachograph charts.
The offences were uncovered by the Department of Transport following a fatal crash on the M62 two years ago.
Len Cook of Selston, Nottingham was jailed for six months at Flu11 Crown Court in November 1992 for causing the death of a three-year-old by reckless driving. He was said to have been exceeding the motorway speed limit when he ploughed into the back of a car.
Last February 18 of the company's drivers had their licences suspended for between one and three weeks for persistent speeding. It was found that they had all regularly exceeded 110kmil (80mph) for sustained periods of time (CM February 18-24 1993). In March Licensing Authority Keith Water-worth decided that Fernwood's licence should terminate early and he cut the number of vehicles and trailers authorised on the licence, saying the company had "only gone through the motions" in checking tachograph charts.
The licence has since been renewed with a larger authorisation.
Nottingham magistrates heard that the vehicles driven by the seven men had made journeys that had not been recorded. The charts had been falsified to disguise the length of the working days and the rest taken,