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Firm took 'eye off the ball'
Page 37
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Operator and driver fined almost £5,000 for series of hours and tachograph offences after neglecting its compliance systems
FINES OF nearly £5,000 were levied on a company and one of its offending drivers for a series of drivers' hours and tachograph offences, including a defective speed limiter. In addition one of the operator's vehicles has been suspended for two weeks.
Vic Wright Transport of Walsall, which holds a licence for six vehicles, had been called before the West Midland Traffic Commissioner David Dixon at a Birmingham disciplinary inquiry.
The company was accused of neglecting its compliance systems while focusing on the proper running of anew contract.
It was ordered to pay fines and costs totalling more than 14,000.
Traffic examiner Robert Lees said that in August a vehicle driven by Stephen French had been stopped in a check on the AS at Wall. French produced 54 tachograph charts, 36 of which were over 21 days old. They showed 11 4.5 hour driving offences and that the speed limiter was not restricting the vehicle's speed.
French said he had been instructed to keep the used tachograph charts in a box in the cab. lie admitted he was aware that the speed limiter was defective.
The company was subsequently visited and 176 charts obtained. Of these there were 41 where the centre field was incorrect, with drivers using initials instead of their full name, and one driver had twice exceeded 4.5 hours driving without the required break.There were also four occasions when the speed limiter was not restricting the vehicle's speed.
French and the company were subsequently prosecuted for sample offences, French being ordered to pay fines and costs of £815 and the company fines and costs of £4,148.
In reply to Michael Carless, for the company, Lees agreed that French had been taking breaks, but they were too short to count.
Managing director Victor Wright said the drivers were instructed to put the charts in a drawer each week in a cupboard at their main customer's premises where the vehicles were based. When French first started they had only just obtained the contract and everything was up in the air.They initially had a lot of problems with the new contract and he conceded they had taken "their eye off the ball".
Carless argued that there were systems in place and there had been a slight breakdown, pointing out that the company had already paid a harsh penalty.
The TC said he found the company more to blame than French, an inexperienced driver in his firstjob driving heavy vehicles. •