Tacho fiddler gets suspended sentence A COUNTY TYRONE haulier has
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been handed a suspended sentence following an investigation into tachograph fiddling at his company.
In a case heard at Belfast Crown Court, Paul Arnold, 46, the owner and director of Newtownstewart-based Arnold Transport and Sons (NI), was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, suspended for three years, for offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981.
In August 2011, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) conducted a joint enforcement operation with the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) into the company.
The PSNI seized several of the hauliers' vehicles to investigate whether interrupter devices had been installed with the capability to disable the tachograph and speed limiter if activated.
Officers also took tachograph records and other documents. Analysis identified where rest periods had been recorded by the tachograph-recording equipment; however, other evidence showed the continued movement of the vehicles during these periods.
It was established that not only were interrupter devices being used by his employed drivers, but that Arnold had also used them while driving. At Omagh Crown Court in May, six drivers employed by the firm received suspended prison sentences of varying lengths for tachograph offences under the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act.
Summing up An interrupter device had been activated to enable drivers to continue driving by simulating that the vehicle was stationary.