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Ban is quashed
Page 7
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• Four drivers who won appeals against driving bans imposed 10 months after their original case was heard could still face further court action if Eastern Area Traffic Commissioner Geoffrey Simms has his way.
In November 2000 the four pleaded guilty to falsifying tachograph records while working for Felixstowe-based container haulier MJ Graves. Three of the men, Kevin Saunders, Paul Williams and David Hockings, received eight-month jail sentences from Ipswich Crown Court and served about two months. The fourth man. James Knight, was fined £1,200.
But in September 2001, almost a year after the case was heard, Simms revoked the drivers' licences at a public inquiry in Cambridge. Last month Lowestoft magistrates overturned those revocations. Peter Allsopp, the Eastern Area Office's compliance group manager, says: "It is inappropriate to comment on the matter but the recent decision is being appealed by the Commissioner."
But the drivers are not satisfied. "We broke the law and have no gripes but felt the latter punishment was persecution," says Saunders, who was charged with 11 tachograph offences. "For them to have another go when you are trying to get your life and family back in order didn't seem right."