Driver destroyed his tub charts
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PO • A Wirral lorry driver, who gave a false name when stopped in a road
side check, subsequently stole his tachograph charts from his employer, Alchem (Merseyside) and destroyed them.
John Sharpley, of Princes Avenue, Eastham, pleaded guilty before the Chester magistrates to failing to give his name and address to a vehicle examiner, failing to produce tachograph charts ,and obstructing a traffic examiner in the course of his duty. A further charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice was dropped by the prosecution.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, John Heaton said frankness about a driver's identity and the preservation of records was central to the drivers' hours and tachographs scheme.
A quantity of charts had gone missing so that what Sharpley had done could not be properly investigated.
When interviewed, Sharpley admitted falsifying a chart by entering a false name. The first charge arose out of giving a false name at the roadside, and the failure to produce charts was a consequence of the theft and the destruction of charts by Sharpley, said Heaton. Sharpley had been convincing at the roadside, when he had given his name as Shaw, and the question of his identity had only arisen during the investigation at Alchem's premises after a check with the MLA found no trace of a licence in that name.
Sharpley's charts were unavailable and he had been seen retrieving them from the office before destroying them.
Defending, Charles Smalley said Sharpley had obtained a part-time job with Alchem after a spell of unemployment. It became clear the amount of work he was doing would be taken into account in his benefits claim and he decided to use another name. Sharp ley had been concerned that if he was stopped, the facts that he was working would get back to the Benefits Agency.
He panicked after being stopped, realising that other charts already handed in bore the false name John Shaw. As a direct result of the stress of this case Sharpley had been diagnosed as suffering from severe cardiac problems.
Although it had been of his own making, Sharpley had paid a high price, said Smalley The magistrates fined Sharpley 1:90 for giving a false name and ..1:90 for failing to produce records, and ordered him to pay 4:1.00 towards the costs of the prosecution.
He was given a condi. tional discharge for 12 months in relation to the charge of obstruction.