Records penalty for round trip
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• A vehicle's 365-mile round trip in a day from Bedford to Wales transporting a refrigeration unit which had to be fitted into a store en route led to hours and records offences for which the operator was fined "excessively".
Mr Bertram Roberts, a traffic examiner, giving evidence to the Eastern LA, Mr H. E. Robson, at Peterborough on Tuesday when Clark Tyler Ltd, Kempston, Beds, appeared under Section 69, said that the company had been fined £50 on each of two charges of failing to sign records. The driver had been fined £25 on two charges of falsifying records and £15 for exceeding the working day.
Asked by the LA whether he considered the fines normal, Mr Roberts said he thought them excessive for failing to sign records. He agreed with the defending solicitor that had the records been checked they would probably have been signed as correct.
No action was taken on the licence after the operator's managing director, Mr Peter Macliver, told the LA that the Wales journey was exceptional. The refrigerator should have been fitted in one hour, he said, in fact his fitters had had to dismantle the equipment when plans supplied to them proved wrong and it would not go through the door. The fitters were not prepared for an overnight stay and the driver decided to get them home.