Wallace Arnold on 31 short-rest charges
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D At Bradford City Court last week Wallace Arnold Tours Ltd pleaded guilty to i 1 charges of permitting their drivers to lrive when they had not had at least 10 onsecutive hours for rest in a period of 24 ours and were fined a total of f155 with 20 ns costs.
Fourteen of the company's drivers drnitted driving when they had not had 10 onsecutive hours for rest in 24 hours and /ere fined £1 on each of 31 separate ffences.
Mr Michael Paterson, prosecuting, said rivers working from the depot at Bradford :arted at 7am and sometimes did not finish ntil early the following morning. He went n: "It is not alleged in any case that an idividual drove excessive hours". They ften drove for only short periods but did ot have 10 consecutive hours of rest. Mr aterson said all the drivers had said they ere acting under instructions.
For the firm, Mr Andrew Carrington said le 1960 Road Traffic Act was meant to op drivers carrying out long periods of
continuous driving. He continued: "In the vast majority of these cases the offences were committed on runs within 10 and 20 miles from Bradford. All were short-haul stuff for short periods, and most contract work. The majority of the drivers were on duty for long periods. but the periods of
driving were minimal." Mr Carrington said they often drove for only two to four hours in a period of 24 hours. The company did not wish deliberately to break the law. Under certain circumstances the company had to fulfil contracts and had to send drivers out.