Boyle Transport boss jailed for tacho fiddling
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By Roger Brown
THE BOSS OF ONE of Northern Ireland’s largest haulage irms, Boyle Transport, has been jailed after an investigation found that some of his drivers had been working up to 22 hours a day.
MD Patrick Boyle, 65, from Newry, County Down, was given a two-year prison sentence at Carlisle Crown Court last week after he admitted conspiring with his drivers to make false tachograph readings His son and fellow director Mark Boyle, 36, was given an 18-month prison sentence after he also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.
A total of 15 drivers received suspended sentences and orders to carry out unpaid work after they pleaded guilty to making false tacho records.
Patrick and Mark Boyle were also disqualiied from acting as company directors for ive years.
The court case followed an extensive joint investigation between VOSA and Cumbria police,
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dubbed Operation Cadillac.
In October 2008, oficers from Cumbria Police stopped eight Boyle Transport trucks in Penrith, travelling from Glasgow. Of the ive vehicles seized and examined, all were found to have modiied wiring systems and each had had their tacho equipment interfered with.
This led to a search warrant being executed on the Boyle Transport ofices in Camlough, Newry, in December 2008. Each digital tachograph owned by the irm – which operates more than 20 tractor units – had been interfered with.
Oficers discovered that some drivers had been driving up to 22 hours a day and failing to take their lawful breaks. Employees had resigned from the company after being asked to work long hours, police enquiries found.
It was revealed during the case that one driver sent an email to Patrick Boyle saying: “I am not a hero and am not prepared to risk my life, other people’s lives or a jail sentence for you to make a proit and still pay poor wages for the amount of hours you expect people to work.” DNA samples taken during interviews led to the arrest and conviction of one driver, Leslie Marshall, for a previous offence of rape and kidnap that had occurred in 1989.
A spokesman for Boyle Transport says the company has no plans to issue a statement on the outcome of the case “at the moment”.