One charge dropped
Page 19
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Permitting a driver to take insufficient weekly rest cost Slough-based Fullers Logistics £750 in fines and costs. The company had first pleaded not guilty before Slough magistrates to two charges of permitting Darren Blanchard to take insufficient rest. However, it changed its plea to guilty to the offence on 19 February 1999, and the prosecution dropped another charge relating to an occasion earlier that month.
Prosecuting for the Vehicle Inspectorate, Roger Rose said the drivers' hours regulations were intended to maintain public
safety. In this case Blanchard had not taken the amount of weekly rest the law required.
For Fullers, Jonathan Lawton said there had been a problem with the company's system. Blanchard had not been instructed to do the work, and he had assured his shift foreman he had the hours left to do the work. An analysis of his tacho charts showed he had taken at least 12.5 hours' rest and on the day in question he had driven for less than six hours. Fullers had since revised its systems, was ISO accredited, and the company was certain that there would be no repetition. said Lawton.