TC orders further investigation
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A culture of falsifying tachograph records appears to have taken hold at a Lancashire operator. according to the North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner.
Patrick Mulvenna ordered disciplinary proceedings against Bury-based Malcolm Harrison to be adjourned and ordered further investigations.
He said there appeared to be a culture of deliberate falsification of records at M Harrison Transport and he needed evidence about why it occurred.
Traffic examiner Sue Mullen said that an examination of the tachograph charts of the seven vehicles operated Last May and June revealed a large number of discrepancies. Nineteen charts were missing with distances varying between eight and 2,010km unrecorded.
There were instances where mode switches had not been used and where drivers had driven for more than 4.5hr without the required break. Some distance traces did not match between consecutive charts and there were instances of running with the tachograph head open, winding back the clock, unnamed charts, charts with different handwriting and a distance trace which had been drawn artificially on the chart.
For Harrison, Charles Stansfield said the business had grown substantially. Harrison had realised he had "bitten off more than he could chew". His son had come off the road, had
obtained his CPC and was to be made transport manager. Another son was working in the office.
Harrison had been carrying out his own tachograph analysis but accepted that he had not had enough time to devote to the task. Arrangements had been made for a retired traffic policeman to analyse the charts in the future.
Of the drivers involved, one had been suspended for a fortnight and four had initially been warned and then dismissed for further infringements.
Harrison said he ran the entire operation for 20 years and it had been difficult for him to adapt his way of thinking to what was no longer a small firm.
The deputy TC said he wanted the names and addresses of the drivers who had left without handing over tachograph charts so that they could be called to public inquiry. If they were unable to produce the charts, or offer a satisfactory explanation, he would suspend their IIGY driving licences. He said there had been a widespread and deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.