CASE TWO
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Drivers forced to pay fines of £4,610
DRIVERS EMPLOYED by a Liverpool haulier have been ordered to pay a total of £4,610 in fines and costs after admitting to falsifying tacho records and failing to keep complete records.
The fines were handed down to the drivers who all worked for JMD Haulage Contractors at the city's Magistrates Court by District Judge Robinson.
Prosecuting for VOSA, John Heaton said that an examination of 1,557 tacho records from 1 January to 3 March 2007 showed 21,828km were unaccounted for.
It was established there was a culture of systematic falsification that seemed to have existed for some time, principally involving "tipping off the card',' with 118
instances of falsification. There were also examples of drivers having written "tipped off the card" on their timesheets.
Vast numbers of tacho records were used that were incompatible with the recording equipment in the vehicles.
Driver John Abarrow pleaded guilty to one offence of falsification and three of failing without reasonable excuse to keep a complete record.
He was fined £150 and ordered to pay £200 prosecution costs.
For Abarrow, Bernard Phelan said he had been pressurised by his employers into the offences — the real wrongdoers were not in the dock, he added.
The remaining 10 drivers were ordered to pay fines and costs varying between £165 and £680.
Fining the drivers, District Judge Robinson commented that in many cases the cover-up was more serious than the original offences.
The trials of three other drivers, Robert Boyce, Ian Cummins and John Lopez, who have pleaded not guilty to a number of offences, were adjourned until February.