Northern Irish driver fined £1,415 for tacho offences
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By Roger Brown
A TRUCK DRIVER from Northern Ireland, who failed to follow instructions from Vosa officers to pull over safely and eventually stopped at green traffic lights on a busy road, has been fined a total of £1,415 for tachograph offences.
On 25 June, Carlisle Magistrates’ Court was told how two Vosa officers were carrying out enforcement checks in February on the A66 at Kirkby Thore, near to Penrith in Cumbria, when they saw a Scania owned and operated by Ryan Johnston International being driven westbound on the A66 by James McCormick, 29, from Co Armagh.
They followed the vehicle to Penrith and indicated unsuccessfully for McCormick to stop the vehicle.
When the lorry got to the traffic lights at the junction of the A66 and Kemplay roundabout at Penrith, despite the lights being on green, the Scania came to a stop in the live lane, McCormick got out of the cab and moved to the back of the unit. By the time one of the Vosa officers had run back to the vehicle, the driver had returned to the cab.
The vehicle was escorted from the carriageway to Penrith Truckstop and McCormick was arrested and bailed to appear later at Carlisle Police Station.
An examination of the tachograph data by police revealed that on four occasions between 5 January and 3 February the vehicle was driven while the tacho was recording rest.
Sergeant Graeme Hodgson, from the road policing unit that led the investigation for Cumbria Police, says: “Cumbria Constabulary and our partners at Vosa take the systematic falsification of tachograph records very seriously.
“Because we work closely with Vosa we are able to have an effective presence, with knowledge of tachographs, on the roads of Cumbria at all times of day and night carrying out enforcement.”