Agency drivers blamed
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• Agency drivers were blamed for a shortage of tachograph charts when Northern Irish haulier Montgomery Transport appeared before the Daventry magistrates.
The company admitted to two charges of failing to produce tachograph records and was tined 1600 with £525 costs. No evidence was offered to support another 37 charges, which were dismissed.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, John Rose said an investigation of the company's records showed that 88,000km were unaccounted for.
Jonathan Lawton, appearing for the company, said that no charges had been brought against any Montgomery driver. Agency drivers were to blame for all the missing charts, he added.The legislation seemed to be at fault: it required the employer to hold the charts although the agency could be said be the employer. After all, an agency driver might only drive for Montgomery on one day in a working week, and the law requires each driver to carry his week's charts with him as well as the chart for the last day of the previous week in which he had worked. Lawton told the court that the traffic examiner in this case had agreed that this might be something that needed to be considered by the Department of Transport.
Letters were produced from one agency accepting that it was responsible for ensuring that the drivers returned their tachograph charts, and assuring Montgomery Transport that this would be done in future.