Jail for five for tacho fiddle
Page 6
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DRIVERS and operators who committed offences involving the falsification of tachograph records could expect immediate prison sentences.
This was made plain by Judge Norman Sellers when he imposed prison sentences on four drivers and one of the directors of E & M Transport (Northwestern) Ltd. at Preston Crown Court.
The drivers, Hubert Parkinson and Thomas Lynch of Skelmersdale, David Hume of Southport and Leslie Seddon of Scarisbrick were sentenced to three months in prison, of which they would serve 28 days, after pleading guilty to making false entries in tachograph records. The director, Margaret Walton, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the drivers. She was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years. Judge Sellers made it clear that the only reason he was suspending , her sentence was because she was a very sick woman.
Originally the company, which is now in liquidation, Mrs Walton; her husband Edward Walton; Seddon and Hume had denied a series of charges. (CM June 23).
However, after Mrs Walton and Seddon and Hume had changed their pleas on the fourth and fifth days of the trial, the prosecution offered no evidence against the company and Mr Walton.
Judge Sellers said that the falsification of tachograph charts could be done in three ways. Firstly, there was the deliberate falsification for example running with the tachograph head open. Secondly there was falsification by omission, for example failing to record details. Thirdly there was falsification by using two charts for the same day and failing to indicate on both charts manually that they related to one another.
It was a very serious offence. Not only did it allow a haulier to compete unfairly with others but the consequences of a lorry crashing because a driver was not alert could be appalling with a heavy loss of life.