DTC issues severe warning on hours • A whiff of
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anyone interfering with tachographs or speed limiters will have significant consequences, says Scottish Deputy Traffic Commissioner Richard McFarlane His warning came when Thomas and Jean Wilson, trading as T&J Wilson (Hauliers), of Avon Traffic examiner Michael Reynolds said a study of three months' charts had revealed that a driver worked for 13 consecutive days without taking a weekly rest. That driver had tried to disguise the fact by entering a false name on a chart. The firm was reported for causing the offences but the procurator fiscal decided not to proceed with the case.
When a vehicle was stopped in a roadside check in December 1996 it was found the driver had falsified tachograph charts on four occasions and on another he had failed to keep a record. The driver had been disconnecting the tachograph by removing the fuse. The driver was fined £520.
Wilson had been in haulage 35 years, starting his own business 18 years ago. He had continued to drive until he was taken ill 18 months ago. His illness had brought the business down and he had started driving again to try and build it up. The drivers had been with him a only a few months. He had let things slide due to his illness.
Accepting that he had not looked at the tacho charts, Wilson said he had trusted the drivers. His son, now checked the charts for him.
After Wilson had said the dri ver he had now would not do five minutes over his time, McFarlane commented that he was a trusting soul. Wilson said he might well go back to just one vehicle.
McFarlane said that in the context of road safety, ill health was never an excuse for letting things slip and slide.