Appeal driver drags his feet
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• The defence was criticised for "an enormous dragging of feet" last week when Tanker Road Services driver Derek Richardson had his appeal against convictions for falsifying tachograph charts adjourned at Stafford Crown Court so that experts could examine the charts concerned.
Richardson, of Norton Canes, was convicted last October on two counts of making false entries in his tachograph charts and was fined 2300 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of 2100 (CM 5-11 November, 1987.) Three other drivers employed by the company are still awaiting trial by judge and jury in May on similar charges, while Tanker Rod' Services itself is appealinitgainst convictions on offence's of failing to preserve and produce tachograph records, and for using vehicles with unsealed tachographs, for which it was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling 238,550 (CM 10-16 December 1987.) Richardson's appeal was due to be heard at Stafford Crown Court on Wednesday (17 February) but Angela Andrews, for the defence, asked for the original tachograph charts to be made available for examination by tachograph experts W J Foster of Preston. She said that the essence of the case was that the false entries had been made by disconnecting the tachographs, which was denied by Richardson who maintained that movements recorded by weighbridge attendants had not been recorded by the tachograph because they were very small and they had been undertaken at very low speed.
Graham Harrison-Hall, prosecuting, said the charges had been laid in May 1987 and that the defence had asked for four adjourmnents before the magistrates to allow an expert witness to be called.
The hearing proceeded in October, but no expert witness appeared and no reason was given for their absence.
The defence had been given the opportunity to inspect the charts in February and August 1987, but had not done so. The prosecution was extremely reluctant to allow the charts to leave the custody of the court, as other charts relating to Richardson had gone missing.
Judge Kenneth Taylor directed that the charts be released after Humphries agreed on the telephone to give an undertaking to preserve intact and unaltered the tachograph charts concerned, and that either he or his son would collect them from, and redeliver them to the Crown Court.
Taylor said that all the indications were that there had been an enormous dragging of feet by the defence. He adjourned the case until a date to be fixed, however.