Same tack offence two different fines
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• The disparities in fines handed out by magistrates was emphasised last week by two cases involving hauliers who appeared before the same court on the same day.
When Avtar Soma! of Wolverhampton appeared before Solihull magistrates he was fined 1305 and had to pay £35 costs for running a truck with the photocopy of another operator's licence, failing to use a tachograph chart and various other offences. The fine included just 130 for failing to have an 0-licence, 230 for failing to install a chart and £15 for not having an annual test certificate.
But an hour later the same magistrates fined Birmingham driver Graham Hobbs £120 for the same tacho offence after he was caught at a roadside check. Hobbs pleaded guilty to driving for dhr 56min without taking a break, and admitted running without a chart in place on a later date.
Hobbs, who works for Birmingham-based Steve Benton Haulage, said he had done the job because his boss had asked him to cover for another driver who was ill.
Hobbs. who had sat through the Somal hearing, complained to the magistrates at the severity of the penalty after he was fined a total of £260 and ordered to pay £70 costs.
Beverly Bell, the recently appointed Traffic Commissioner, prosecuted in the Sornal hearing in one of her last cases on behalf of the Vehicle Inspectorate.
A spokesman for the magistrates declined to comment.