Driver involved in m'way crane fatality fined £600
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• A Fraserburgh owner-driver whose vehicle was involved in a fatal accident with a mobile crane on the M6 has been fined .£600 for careless driving and falsifying tachograph charts.
George Davidson, of Mernsie, Fraserburgh, pleaded guilty to two charges of falsifying tachograph charts and to driving without due care and attention. lie was also ordered to pay £150 prosecution casts.
Frank Nance, prosecuting, said the tachograph chart for 15 February showed a journey from Dover to Spalding. According to the chart Dover was about 92km closer to Spalding than was geographically possible. The chart for the following day for a journey from Spalding to Fraserburgh showed a distance that was 123km shorter than the shortest route.
The accident occurred on 18 February. Davidson drove up behind the crane and failed to notice until too late that he was closing on it. The front nearside of his vehicle hit the rear offside of the crane with sufficient speed that the crane spun across the hard shoulder and rolled down the embankment, landing upside down pointing in the opposite direction. The driver of the crane was thrown out and crushed by the jib.
Malcolm Dutchman-Smith, defending, said Davidson had simply misjudged the speed of the crane. Unbeknown to Davidson the hours regulations had been relaxed at the time because of the bad winter weather.
Davidson's excessive hours was a result of finding himself in difficulty because of the snowy conditions in the north and the disruption and cancellation of ferry crossings in the south.