Driver spent 17 hours at wheel
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• A series of offences cost Stockport ownerdriver Moham
med Akhtar 11,000 in fines, costs and back duty when he appeared before Macclesfield Magistrates.
Akhtar, of Heaton Mersey, Stockport admitted using a vehicle without a current licence or 0-licence, exceeding the daily driving limit and failing to take the required daily rest.
Prosecuting for the DOT, John Heaton said a 7.5-tonne truck driven by Akhtar was stopped in a routine check. Akhtar said he came from Germany with the vehicle loaded with clothes. An
examination of his tachograph chart showed that in 23 hours, starting in Berlin the previous day, Akhtar had been at the wheel for 17hr 40min. The maximum period of rest was 1 hr 54min. It was one of the most
serious offences the traffic exam iners had come across.
Akhtar said the vehicle's excise licence had expired the previous month when he was in Germany. He was not aware that he needed an 0-licence for the vehicle. He did take a rest but it was only a couple of hours on the ferry. The vehicle had been hijacked in February with a load of goods worth 135,000 and he had not worked since.
The magistrates fined Akhtar £150 for having no 0-licence and 1750 for exceeding the daily driving limit.
They also ordered him to pay 112.50 back duty and £100 prosecution costs.