Driver was not aware of missing tacho seals
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• Farehain magistrates ordered that the defence costs of Mansfield driver Cohn Randall be paid out of public funds after acquitting him of using a vehicle with a tachograph not installed in accordance with the regulations.
PC John Whiting of the Hampshire police said he had stopped an artic driven by Randall on the M27 north of Farnham. When he examined the tachograph he found that it had two internal seals which bore different tachograph centre numbers, and the seal securing the calibration setting was insecure. Randall denied any knowledge of this.
In reply to Jonathan Lawton, defending, Whiting said he had not tried to find out where the tachograph centres were located as they were in Ireland. Asked if it would have been better to report the matter to the Irish Authorities, he replied that they would probably have considered it was a trivial matter.
He agreed that the tachograph did not appear to be defective in any other way, adding that he had prised out the seal with his pocket knife.
Randall said he had been a lorry driver for a long time and had no reason to sus• pect there was anything wrong with the seals. Apart from seeing that the seals were in place, this was not something he was required to check.
Pointing out that the summonses stated the seal had been missing, Lawton said there was no offence to answer as it was clear from the evidence that the seal had been there. Even if there was an offence, Randall could not have been aware of it.