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Magistrates fine 'fiddler' more than Uk
Page 24
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DRIVERS' HOURS and tacho offences, including the falsification of tachograph records, cost Essex lorry driver Terence Ford £2,350 in fines and costs.
Ford pleaded guilty to nine offences of falsifying tachograph records, taking insufficient rest breaks, exceeding permitted driving time and failing to use the tachograph when he was called before Hertford Magistrates.
Prosecuting for Vosa, Jacqueline Devonish said that Ford. who was employed by Rainham-based Forest Freight, had removed his tachograph charts from the equipment during a number of journeys rather than at the end of the daily driving as required by law. That was how the false records had been created. Odometer readings at the beginning and end of days were the same, but traces showed the vehicle had been moved some 38km. That revealed excessive driving hours and insufficient daily rest. When stopped by the traffic examiner, Ford explained the missing mileage was purely as a result of shunting trailers around for his employer. He had admitted to hiding his daily rest to get back to the depot and said that he should have put the charts in.
Sven Keulstra, general manager of Forest Freight, said that Ford was one of his best drivers. The company checked the charts on a weekly basis and had never found any excessive driving or falsification. It was an unusual occurrence and involved charts which had not been checked by the company because they had not been handed in by the driver. The firm had reviewed its procedures as a consequence. There had been a clampdown on drivers' hours, and Ford was an example to all other 125 drivers.
The magistrates fined Ford a total of £2,050 and ordered him to pay £300 towards the cost of the prosecution.