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TCs plan 12-month bans for sustained hours offences
Page 6
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EXCLUSIVE
• by Miles Brignall Truck drivers who deliberately set out to break the drivers hours rules could soon face a minimum penalty of a 12-month ban.
Senior Traffic Commissioner Michael Betts says drivers who install switches or pull fuses to gat round tachograph and speed limiter legislation are a danger to other road users and should be treated the same as drink-drivers.
This proposal is believed to be part of new guidelines for TCs being considered by the Department of Transport. Their current guide, Practice Direction for Drivers, was last updated in 1994. It offers TCs no advice on dealing with drivers convicted of norendorsable offences, which includes hours offences.
Betts has now put together an updated version which addresses this—as soon as the DoT overcomes a few technical problems the new guidelines will be sent out to Traffic Area Offices. "There has been a significant increase in the number of drivers brought before TCs as the result of the jump in the number of big hours investigations carried out by the Vehicle Inspectorate," he says.
"I want to send out the message that drivers who knowingly set out to deceive or abuse the system can expect a minimum one-year ban when they appear before their local Traffic Commissioner." Until now drivers caught with switches in the cab have got off relatively lightly in magistrates courts; long bans are very unusual.
Betts is not suggesting that a driver who once goes an hour over his limit to get home for the weekend should be banned for a year, but he is determined to crack down on regular offenders. Drivers caught committing lesser offences can also expect harsher penalties from the TCs.
• Research carried out by the BBC earlier this year found that 15% of drivers regularly broke