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Driver admits falsifying his tacho records
Page 24
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THE FALSIFICATION of a tachograph record cost Irish lorry driver Nigel Johnston £1,020 in fines and costs when he admitted the offence before the City of London Magistrates.
Prosecuting for Vosa, Jacquelin e Devonish said Johnston, of Lurgain. Co Armagh, was employed by Derry Morgan, of Loughall, Co. Armagh. When stopped at a checkpoint in central London by senior traffic examiner Fiona Rutland, Johnston admitted having driven between 6.00am and midday without having a chart in the equipment. As he entered the check site, he wrote on the back of the chart 'the card is not functioning since this time'. This was before Rutland asked for his tachograph records. When asked why he had done that, Johnston said he did not know.
Devonish said Johnston had begun his journey the day before he had been stopped, and he had driven since 8pm the night before. Had he not removed the chart, the record sheet would have been showing insufficient daily rest.
In mitigation, it was said that Johnston had co-operated with the traffic examiner by answering the questions and by admitting the offence. He was a man of previously good character.
Johnston was fined £270 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £650. Devonish asked for and was granted a £100 wasted costs order against Johnston's solicitors for their failure to advise their client of the need to be present at court to enter a plea.