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Jailed haulier led fatal hours offence

9th December 2004
Page 6
Page 6, 9th December 2004 — Jailed haulier led fatal hours offence
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A Kent haulage boss has been jailed for manslaughter after encouraging drivers to flout the hours' rules, leading to a fatal smash. Jennifer Ball reports.

A HAULIER HAS been jailed for seven years after he encouraged drivers to break the hours rules, leading to a fatal accident when a driver fell asleep at the wheel, killing himself and two motorists.

In October Melvyn Spree, director of Queenborough-based Keymark Services, pleaded guilty at Leicester Crown Court to two charges of manslaughter and one of conspiracy to falsify driving records.

Last Friday (3 November) Northampton Crown Court heard how Keymark driver Stephen Law was part way through an 18-hour shift on 27 February 2002 when he crashed through the central reservation of the MI and collided with seven other vehicles. He died, along with motorists Neil Owen and Benjamin Kwapong.

Spree taught his drivers how to fiddle tachograph charts and immobilise their trucks' speed limiters so they could travel "as far and as fast as they wanted".

Derek Spencer, prosecuting, told the court the result was that there was a risk that any of them at any time might fall asleep at the wheel, alleging:"The business was an accident waiting to happen."

Spree's fellow director, Lorraine March, was jailed for 16 months for conspiracy to falsify driving records. Company secretary Claire Miller was given 160 hours community service for the same offence. Sentencing Spree, Judge Charles Wide QC said: "The sheer scale is shocking. Every driver was involved, encouraged by a prolitsharing incentive. You were the driving force of the fraud and you involved other people in it. It's hard to imagine a more serious case of its type." Detective Inspector Andy Tennet, who led the investigation, says: "Haulage companies have a duty to ensure that their drivers are alert and fit to drive and will not fall asleep at the wheel.They should be warned by the outcome of this case to take corporate responsibility for safety very seriously."


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