Close to revocation
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• Dutch haulier Edcrest has come "within a whisker" of having its Sittingbournebased licence revoked, following a series of convictions.
Cutting the authorisation on Edcrest's licence from 150 to 30 vehicles with immediate effect, South Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner Michael Turner directed that the licence ends three months early, at the end of the year.
Edcrest was ordered to pay fines and costs of £2,775 in June when it admitted eight specimen offences of permitting drivers to take insufficient rest and failing to keep tachograph records correctly in November of last year (CM 15-21 July).
For the Vehicle Inspectorate, Stephen Thomas said that at best there had been a sloppy disregard for regulations, and at worst a deliberate flouting of the rules. Tacho records going back to the previous January could not be produced: those that were produced revealed numerous rest offences.
DOT traffic examiner David Lynch said he checked thousands of tachograph charts for hundreds of drivers and was very concerned with what he had found. It had been an appalling situation. One journey to Italy was nicknamed the "Cassinetta Flyer" because drivers contended that it could not be completed within the time given without exceeding the speed limits. Ferry crossings had not been recorded, thus "buying time" for the drivers.
For the company, Simon Hawksworth QC said British drivers had now been excluded from the Cassinetta trip, which was now done solely by drivers based at Sonn, in Holland. There had not been any policy to flout the law. It was a case of failure to check and monitor the tacho records, and some of the offences recorded against the company were technical. Edcrest had been established by the three de Rooy brothers and GM de Rooy was now in charge at Sittingbourne. He was trying to rebuild the Sitingbourne operation and enlarge the fleet from the current 25 vehicles. Brigadier Turner said Edcrest treated the licensing laws and rules in a casual and cavalier fashion. Convictions, changes in the maintenance arrangements and a change of transport manager had not been reported to his office. No proper checks had been kept on the drivers' records. Edcrest behaved extremely badly and that merited a severe penalty Had the hearing been last November, he would have had to revoke the licence. However, there had been a great improvement since then and "on balance" and "by the merest whisker" he had decided not to revoke it.
Brigadier Turner told Edcrest to produce all its tachograph records since May by the end of December, and he warned the company that it could not afford to take any more chances.