Drivers fined for excessive hours
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• West Yorkshire Freight of Dewsbury and six of its driver have been ordered to pay a total of £2,890 in fines and costs for a long series of drivers' hours offences.
The drivers admitted 25 offences of taking insufficient weekly rest, taking insufficient daily rest, exceeding nine hours driving in a day and driv ing for more than four-and-ahalf hours without taking the required amount of rest. The company admitted permitting seven of the offences before Bradford Magistrates.
Richard Wadkin, prosecuting for the North Eastern Traffic Area, said that prior to 1 September the drivers had been employed by Bannon & Ward Transport, which was taken over by West Yorkshire Freight, which also belonged tc the Bannon & Ward Group.
Defending, Ray Cohen said the company had both international and domestic haulage contracts. In its first 12 months of operation it had anticipated a turnover of £800,000, but because of the costs involved in setting it up there would now be an anticipated trading loss of 250,000. Consequently, it decided to streamline operations, cutting its workforce from 14 to five. The company now thinks that its second 12 months' turnover will be £400,000 with a profit of £14,000.
Cohen said that the hours' offences had not resulted in any financial benefit to the drivers, and that it had really been a question of drivers wanting to get home at the weekend instead of being stranded in a port or a strange town.
The company was fined £1,400 and ordered to pay £30 towards the costs of the prosecution.
The drivers were: Willis Spencer, one offence, fined 250; Barry Mooney, three offences, fined £150; Graham Lavington, two offences, fined £100; George Hall, seven offences, fined £350; David Riley, seven offences, fined 2350; Christian Begley, three offences, fined £150; and David Thornton, two offences, fined 2100. All six were also ordered to pay 230 costs each.