Drivers removed tacho charts 'all the time'
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A driver who falsified a tachograph record after being told by other dri vers they did it all the time has been given a 12-month conditional discharge by Middleton, North Manchester, magistrates.
Derek Boyd, of Aintree, pleaded guilty to that offence, and to exceeding the permitted first axle weight of his rigid.
Prosecuting for the Yehicle Inspectorate. John Heaton said taking the chart out of the tachograph prematurely to conceal the fact that he had run out of hours. The overload was corrected by simply moving two pallets to the rear. Boyd said the offences had arisen out of inexperience.
He said he was having a meal with other driver's at the Charnock Richard Services. He had said he needed to get to Liverpool but had run out ot hours. The drivers said he could take the chart out and if the police stopped him he should say he only had 20 minutes left and he would be let off. The drivers said they did it all the time.
The magistrates ordered Boyd to pay £75 prosecution costs and said they felt he had perhaps been the victim of his own naivety. Boyd's employer, Robert Evans, was fined £145 for the overloading offence.