Hours charges dropped on interpretation query
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• Chars brought against Neil & Elizabeth Pendreigh of Kiniemuir in Perth Sheriff's Court have been dropped by the Procurator Fiscal, following an appeal, for guidance with regard to the interpretation of the weekly rest provisions published in Cammerdal Motor (Law on the Wall 20-26 August 1992).
The partners had been charged with causing and permitting one of their drivers, Cohn Watson, to fail to take a weekly rest period in March of this year.
Defending solicitor John Backhouse's plea (CM 28 Apr114 May) led to the receipt of a letter from the Vehicle Inspectorate which had been sent to tachograph analysis agency Inforach Data of Trowbridge. This con
firmed that they adopted the approach that no offence was committed where a driver deferred his weekly rest until the end of the sixth day calculated from the time he completed his previous weekly rest and set his tachograph in motion and started driving for the week in question.
The letter was placed before the Procurator Fiscal, who accepted that in such circumstances no offence had been committed.
The partners admitted failing to have a two-year tachograph check and were admonished.
The VI's interpretation appears to be in line with the latest European Court decision that the period of 24 hours within which a daily rest is to be taken starts upon conclusion of a weekly or daily rest when the tachograph is set in motion.