5,650 fine for French driver
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• French lorry driver Gene Blaize of St Brieuc has been fined .25,650 with £175 costs and disqualified from driving for 12 months by the Fleetwood magistrates after his truck was involved in an accident which left two car drivers seriously injured.
The magistrates ordered Blake's employer, Gaultier Scova of Trequeux, to pay the fine and costs within 28 days. If Gaultier fails to pay up within the specified time the magistrates will ask the Home Office to invoke a reciprocal arrangement with the French government under which all of Gaultier's vehicles could be banned from operating in the UK until the fines are paid.
In court Blaize admitted to driving without due care and attention as well as two offences of failing to take the required daily rest, two of exceeding ten hours driving in a day and one of failing to take the required weekly rest. He also admitted one offence of exceeding 41/2 hours' continuous driving, one of tailing to operate the mode switch of his tachograph, and using an articulated vehicle with defective brakes and an under-inflated tyre.
Brian Reeder, prosecuting, said that a 38-tonne artic belonging to Gaultier was involved in an accident at Little Singleton near Fleetwood when it struck one car and toppled over on top of another after going out of control. Both car drivers were seriously injured.
Blaize's tachograph charts were seized and they revealed a number of offences of which the charges were specimens.
Haulage was big business, said Reeder, and the longer the vehicle was on the road the more money it brought in and the greater the profit. One way of making large profits was by driving excess hours, hoping that vehicles would not be stopped and incriminating tachograph charts seized.
The prosecution said that this accident arose out of "sheer greed".
Producing a computer analysis of Blake's tachograph charts, PC Robert Adamson of the Lancashire Police said that after leaving Saragosa Blaize had driven for nine consecutive days prior to the accident.
Ian Moore, defending, said Blaize had taken a long rest period before leaving Fleetwood, and had only travelled 6km or so when the accident occurred. The cause had been an error of judgment on a road Blaize had not driven over before, while negotiating a series of bends on a windy day. The company was a reputable one. Blaize was paid a flat 2480 per month with no bonus, so he gained nothing from flouting the regulations, but had felt an obligation to customers to deliver loads on time. He had not been with the firm for long and perhaps felt under pressure to create a good impression.
The magistrates fined Blaize 2200 for driving without due care and attention, £750 for tachograph offences and 2100 on both of the other two offences, and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.