12 charges for friends
Page 21
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A skilled tachograph technician who installed a sophisticated device for interrupting the power supply to the tachograph in a friend's tipper was fined £350 with 2250 prosecution costs by Denbigh magistrates.
Richard Williams, of Denbigh, pleaded guilty to 12 offences of aiding and abetting John Gwyn Jones, of Ruthin, to falsify tachograph charts and to one offence of falsifying a chart while driving Jones' vehicle.
Jones pleaded guilty to 12 offences of falsification and one of aiding and abetting Williams to falsify. He was fined 2500 with 2250 costs.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Albert Oldfield said that last July Jones' tipper was seen entering the Denbigh premises of Tarmac Quarry Products. When a traffic examiner inspected the tech° charts
produced by Jones he suspected that the periods of rest recorded were not correct, When the vehicle was searched by traffic examiners they found the armour-plated cable to the tachograph had been breached and additional wiring and relays had been crimped in place. It was not a simple device that could be fitted by anyone. A search warrant was issued for the premises of S&M Autos of Denbigh and a pair of pliers was seized from Williams' tool cabinet. A report from a forensic scientist linked the pliers to the crimping carried out when fitting the device.
When interviewed, Jones had admitted that he had used the interrupter device regularly, said Oldfield. He had said that he had approached Williams with a request to fit such a device.
For Junes, Stephen Ayless said he had used the device on occasions to get two journeys in and get back home to look after his children. It was not a massive amount of hours that had been abused, Jones having "cheated" only between six and 12 miles on each chart.
Williams said he had not profited from the offences.
In fining the two men, the magistrates said rules and regulations were there for the safety of the public generally and when a driver of a heavy vehicle drove for too long arid became tired the consequences could be terrible. This had been a very sophisticated and deliberate tampering of the system.