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s strike back
l• To an outsider the haulage business run by Thomas Malcolm was a modern, profitable and professional outfit. At its peak it had run more than 20 trucks and last year was doing lucrative business delivering out of Tesco's regional distribution centres in Milton Keynes and Northampton.
But to the drivers on the inside of Cowdenbeath-based Taphaul in Scotland the working environment was a pressure cooker of long hours underpinned by constant threats of dismissal—or "pay-offs"—to ward off complaints.
Disgruntled employee
Last October that divide was crossed when a disgruntled employee phoned a member of the Vehicle Inspectorate's investigations team to report that drivers at Taphaul were being forced to exceed their legal hours by "driving on the wire" or making false entries on the tachographs.
The most common scam was to leave Tesco's RDC at Milton Keynes neat two hours before the departure time written on the tachograph chart. This gave drivers the extra hours needed to complete the work and keep their jobs.
Acting on the tip-off the VI promptly raided Taphaul's premises and seized more than 100 tachograph charts that were suspected to have false entries. They also took some charts that had been shredded.
During the subsequent investigation the VI checked the tacho entries against bookingout times at the RDCs and discovered a shocking list of discrepancies. Between September and October there had been 196 offences relating to drivers hours.
As soon as Tesco knew what was going on it cancelled the contract with Taphaul, forcing the rogue operator into liquidation in February of this year with a deficit of nearly £750,000.
At about the same time suspicions surfaced of a Tesco employee who was taking bribes from Tommy Malcolm. One of Malcolm's drivers had been instructed to deliver a silver Ford Moncleo to the employee who is understood now to have been sacked.
Taphaul's liquidation left drivers out of work and, inevitably, subcontractors out of pocket— in one case by more than £20,000.
It was perhaps an example of Tommy Malcolm's arrogance (he had previously told drivers he would never be caught) that he immediately started up again in the same Cowdenbeath yard under the name Malcolm Transport, with his wife listed as managing director.
The company even applied for an 0-licence, despite the continuing VI investigation.
At this point Commercial Motor received an anonymous tip-off that there was a phoenix company in Cowdenbeath called Malcolm Transport, formerly Taphaul. When we phoned Malcolm Transport we were told categorically that it had no connection with Taphaul.
Malcolm had presumably depended on his drivers keeping quiet about his unscrupulous activities and perhaps taking all the blame for the offences themselves.
He was well connected in the Cowdenbeath area and crossing him was generally acknowledged to be a bad idea.
But when the VI questioned the drivers at least nine of them refused to sacrifice their licences for the sake of a man who had made their lives a misery in the preceding months. They had not gained anything by breaking the law as they were paid a flat rate of £300 a week, regardless of the hours they worked.
One of them told the VI: "if I didn't do the work I would be sacked. it was common knowledge that the motors were wired to disable speed limiters and tachographs."
What the drivers failed to realise was that their state ments would be forwarded to Malcolm as a matter of standard procedure. It was at this point that Malcolm realised the walls were closing in. He responded by displaying the statements on a table in his office so everyone knew who the whistleblowers were.
The nine were shunned by Malcolm's band of loyal followers, who were known as the "clingons". These drivers were paid more than 0thers—£350 a week— but were not pressurised by Malcolm to break the hours regulations.
When Malcolm was finally hauled in front of Senior Traffic Commissioner Michael Betts he denied that he had threatened or coerced drivers into breaking the law but admitted that the charts had not been checked properly. His solicitor, Graham Wilson, also withdrew Malcolm Transport's licence application.
Betts later disqualified Tommy Malcolm from holding an 0-licence for 10 years. Surprisingly, Malcolm is now working for Curries of Dumfries in its traffic office on the same Tesco contract that Curries had taken over from Taphaul. Curries' operation is 100% legal which prompts the question, why did Malcolm run a bent company P The answer comes from his former drivers who say it was simply a case of greed.
Last week it was their turn to appear in front of Betts.
"Every time [he asked me to do extra work) I told him I didn't have time to do it," said one. 'He would say `there are plenty of other drivers who will do it'. He knew you couldn't make it on time but he would still make you do it."
Another pleaded with Betts not to revoke his licence. "We've tried our best to stay legal," he said. "I hope you can take that into consideration and give us another chance."
Written decision
Betts told the drivers that the only way people like Malcolm were going to be forced out of the industry was if drivers refused to drive for them. The drivers will find out whether their HGV licences will be suspended or revoked in a few days when Betts produces a written decision.
But one question that is likely to remain unanswered is how an operator with a profitable Grintract who was forcing his drivers to run illegally went bust owing nearly £750,000.