Costly hours offences
Page 5
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DRIVERS' hours and records offences cost Lancashire hauliers, Arthur Rodney Rudge and Sons and three of the company's drivers, a total of £910 in fines and costs when they appeared before the Rochdale Magistrates.
The drivers were Edward Cummings of Rochdale, who admitted two offences of making false entries on tachograph charts, 15 offences of exceeding the permitted hours limits and three of failing to take the required weekly rest; Keith Ogden of Wardle, who admitted four offences of making false entries; and Derek Barrett of Todmorden, who admitted one offence of making a false entry and six offences of excessive hours.
The company admitted three offences of permitting a driver to fail to make entries in the centrefield of a tachograph chart, seven offences of failing to produce tachograph records, 15 of permitting drivers to exceed the hours limits and three of permitting Mr Cummings to take insufficient rest.
Christopher Worthy, prosecuting for the North Western Licensing Authority, said the regulations were designed to prevent drivers from driving while suffering from fatigue. It was a far too common practice for drivers to travel for part of the day with a chart in the tachograph and to have no chart for the remainder of the day.
Mr Cummings said he had been doing a bit extra because he was paid a percentage of the vehicle's earnings. He had to work long hours to make it pay. A fourth driver, Keith Bennett, who failed to enter the closing odometer readings on three charts and exceeded the permitted hours on five occasions, had already been dealt with by the magistrates, being fined £175 with £20 costs.
Defending, John Backhouse said many drivers were in the habit of entering the odometer readings at the start and the finishing readings on the previous chart rather than actually taking the reading from the odometer. That became a false entry if someone else had moved or used the vehicle in the meantime.
Mr Cummings wes fined £155, Mr Ogden £65 and Mr Barrett £80. They were each ordered to pay £50 cost. The company was fined £210 with £250 costs.