Licence cut for 'pulling the fuse'
Page 28
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The falsification of a tacho
graph chart by a partner in
Whitiand, Dyfed-based Lyn Davies et Partners led to the firm's 0-licence being cut from four vehicles to three for a week. The company, trading as Meurig Davies Farm Seeds, had been called before Welsh Traffic Commissioner David Dixon at a Cardiff disciplinary inquiry.
PC Mark Morrison, of Wiltshire police, reported that Oswald Davies had been arrested at a roadside check on the A303 near Salisbury in January 1999 when he was found to have removed a fuse from his tachograph.
Davies had claimed he had been at the lay-by since 21:45hrs the previous day.
However, a police officer had seen the vehicle being driven into a lay-by before the check, and a search of the vehicle revealed a number of timed documents, one of which showed the truck had been refuelled near Swansea on the M4 at 22:00hrs the previous day.
Davies repeatedly denied that the signature on the documents was his and he was ar rested on suspicion of using a false instrument. In June, Davies pleaded guilty before Salisbury magistrates and was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £200 costs.
He admitted removing the fuse before driving from South Wales via Devon to Salisbury, saying that he needed to return to attend a friend's wedding where he was chauffering the bride.
Davies had aggravated the situation by repeatedly lying and being downright obstructive, said Morrison.
Davies said he had beer an HGV driver for 15 years and had never before pulled a fuse. He realised the serious implications for the family's licence.
His father, Lyn Davies, criticised the police officers who had arrested his son, saying his son had phoned him and said the police were going through his lorry and behaving "like cannibals". He added that he had called the Wilshire chief constable's secretary and told her that what he thought was going on was barbaric.
As well as taking action against the 0-licence, the TC suspended Oswald Davies's LGV driving licence for two weeks.