The full text of the Traffic Commissioner’s decision is below.

Details of her consideration of the evidence and her decision can be

found from paragraph 286.

SCOTTISH TRAFFIC AREA

GOODS VEHICLES (LICENSING OF OPERATORS) ACT 1995

McLANACHAN TRANSPORT LTD - OM1001769

PUBLIC INQUIRY AND DRIVER CONDUCT HEARINGS IN RELATION TO DRIVERS

MESSRS JOHN McFARLANE, DAVID STEWART, BRIAN WATKINS, IAN ROBERTS, MARTIN
FLANAGAN, PATRICK McINTYRE, ALEXANDER MILLER, KEITH NICOLSON, SCOTT
WEST, JOHN CRAW, ALISTAIR PRIESTLEY, CHRISTOPHER McLANACHAN, JAMES
BLACKWOOD, WAYNE ALLEN, DAMIEN McLANACHAN, JAMES PRESTON, MATTHEW
McLANACHAN

PUBLIC INQUIRY AND HEARINGS HELD AT EDINBURGH ON 27/28 MAY, 8/9 JULY
AND 5 OCTOBER 2009

DECISION OF THE TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER

BACKGROUND

1. McLanachan Transport holds a standard international goods vehicle

operator licence, with current authority for 23 vehicles and 28
trailers. As at the date of the preparation of the Public Inquiry
brief, 15 vehicles were specified but at later times the number
specified changed. The licence was granted in July 2003 at a Public
Inquiry when a “significant warning” was given in respect of its
future conduct. The licence application which was in the Public Inquiry
brief disclosed a conviction in 2000 for tachograph infringements and
disqualification from holding an operator licence for one year. The
Directors of the company are Mrs Rose Ann McLanachan and Mr Matthew H
McLanachan, the latter being Transport Manager (CPC by examination). The
operating centre is at 12 Garrell Road, Burnside Industrial Estate,
Kilsyth.

2. Following my receiving adverse reports from VOSA Traffic and Vehicle

Examiners, I directed that the operator and associated drivers be called
to conjoined Public Inquiry and Driver Conduct Hearings. A pre
notification of the Public Inquiry letter was sent to the operator on 17
February 2009 and a call up letter was sent on 4 March 2009, calling the
operator to the Inquiry/Hearings on 27/28 May 2009. The individual
drivers received call up letters personal to them. There was extensive
Public Inquiry documentation contained in the Public Inquiry brief and
sequential lettered folders A - R containing the documentation on which
the Examiners would rely in making their case to me. I do not rehearse
all that documentation here save to note that it contained copies of
tachograph record charts, interviews and other paperwork ancillary to
the Examiners’ investigations. Given the extent of the VOSA
examination, a long period of notice of the Inquiry/hearings had to be
given such that agents would have sufficient time to prepare on behalf
of their clients.

3. The operator was represented by Mr M Whiteford, Solicitor, who also

represented Mrs Rose Ann McLanachan and Mr Matthew McLanachan in their
capacities as Directors and Mr McLanachan as Transport Manager and
holder of large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement. The 16
drivers were represented by Mr N Kelly, Solicitor. Mrs Rose McLanachan
was not present at the commencement of the Inquiry but, given that the
call up letter referred to the possibility of disqualification as a
Director, I required her attendance at at least one day of the Inquiry.
The principal VOSA witnesses were Traffic Examiners Mrs Hill and Mr
Quinn supplemented by Vehicle Examiner, Mr Hughes and Traffic Examiner,
Mr Marshall.

4. There were some initial preliminary matters to make sure that

everyone had the correct set of documentation, including some amendments
and an up to date annual test history and further prohibitions were
lodged. The operator lodged productions during the Inquiry.

5. Evidence of financial standing had been produced and was

satisfactory and so did not require to be probed at the Inquiry.

6. There were no members of the public present and, accordingly, the

voluminous VOSA evidence contained in the Public Inquiry and Drivers’
Hearing Briefs, was taken as read into the record. Full opportunity was
given and taken for cross examination and challenge to any of that
documentation. The Drivers Conduct cases were taken first with Mr Kelly
making his submissions in relation to the respective drivers. The case
did not conclude on the initial 2 days set aside but required a further
3 days, there being a gap between 9 July 2009 and the final date of 5
October 2009 for diary reasons but also to allow for the production of
further FTA analysis of the operator’s tachograph charts in view of
evidence relating to the use of the FTA as a mitigatory factor. Such
further reports were available on 5 October 2009 and had been copied to
the Traffic Examiners.

7. On behalf of some of the drivers, Mr Kelly expressed their disquiet

that other drivers who had been looked at in the course of the Traffic
Examiners’ investigations had not been called, many of these drivers
being foreign. Given that I have no jurisdiction over foreign drivers,
there was no comfort I could give to that observation.

CONVICTIONS AND DRIVERS’ HOURS PROHIBITIONS

8. On 18 May 2004, a driver Mr G Bowe was convicted at Crewe

Magistrates Court of failing to produce his tachograph charts; failing
to take a 45 minute break; failing to take sufficient daily rest; and
using a defective speed limiter. The operator was not prosecuted. The
operator reported the conviction of the driver to the Traffic
Commissioner through Mr Whiteford’s office. A copy of the plea in
mitigation recorded for the driver was enclosed. The vehicle was a
hired vehicle which the driver assumed would be in good and efficient
order. He had not reported the speed limiter problem to his employers.
Explanations were given for why the drivers’ hours offences were made,
including movements at RDCs. The driver received a final warning
letter.

9. On 8 October 2007, the operator was convicted at Northallerton

Magistrates Court of an overloading offence and fined. This conviction
was not notified to the Traffic Commissioner. The operator produced a
response by letter of 29 November 2007. They felt that the customer had
put them in a position whereby the overloading happened.

10. Between 6 January 2006 and 19 October 2008, 8 drivers’ hours

prohibitions were issued, 2 overweight prohibitions were issued, and 1
hazchem prohibition was issued. 6 of the drivers’ hours prohibitions
were for the driver failing to take sufficient weekly rest.

EVIDENCE IN RELATION TO MAINTENANCE

11. The operator’s prohibition history from June 2006 to May 2009
comprised 6 immediate and 5 delayed prohibitions for a range of matters,
none of which were ‘S’ marked. Almost all of 2008 was prohibition
free. Many should have been prevented by the drivers in that 1 was for
a laptop being on the windscreen obscuring the view and another for the
driver’s view being serious impaired by 3 dream catchers in the line
of vision. The operator’s vehicle test history from May 2004 to May
2009 comprised 61 vehicles presented, 38 passes, 13 PRS and 10 failing.
Many fail items related to speed limiters. On 9 December 2008 a delayed
prohibition was issued for a trailer fractured brake disc; on 18 March
an immediate prohibition was issued for a deep cut to a trailer tyre;
and on 22 April an immediate prohibition was issued for an ISO cable
being missing and no evidence of use. None of these three was S marked.

12. The maintenance frequency is 6 weekly for vehicles and trailers,

with the Vehicle Examiner on a paperwork exercise finding inspection
frequencies stretching to 10 weeks. The Vehicle Examiner criticised the
detail in the inspection records and driver defecting reporting was
scarce. Rectification work was not being noted. There was no VOSA
criticism of the operator’s facilities or of the number of mechanics.

TRAFFIC EXAMINER EVIDENCE

13. The Traffic Examiner evidence was literally voluminous. Much of it

is set out and recorded in this decision against the names of the
individual drivers.

14. VOSA’s Northern Investigation Team began an investigation in to

this operator in May 2008 when the Traffic Examiners required the
operator to produce tachograph charts and digital downloads for the
period 25 February to 30 March 2008, together with copy driver licences,
traffic sheets and fuel invoices and other documentation. After a short
delay, most of these were produced with the exception of the final
driving digital downloads which were not received until September 2008.
It took repeated interventions by the Traffic Examiners before this
information was provided to them. Not all data had been downloaded from
hired in vehicles or demonstrator vehicles used in the period.

15. The Traffic Examiners undertook a detailed analysis in view of

anomalies and apparent offences found. This included contacting
premises to or from which the operator had made deliveries. Their final
analysis revealed to them 308 alleged offences, being 246 false records;
60 drivers’ hours offences; and 2 records showing excessive speeds.
There were 56 instances of failing to produce tachograph record sheets
and 68 instances where no driver card/vehicle downloads were produced.
36 drivers were found to be non compliant. 22 (4 foreign) were
interviewed. 14 (7 foreign) not interviewed had left the operator’s
employment. 17 of the drivers were called to this driver conduct
hearing. Two, who could have been called, had not renewed their
entitlements and one may yet be called.

DRIVER MR JOHN McFARLANE - DRIVER NO: MCFAR 604116 J99LX

Traffic Examiner evidence

16. Mr McFarlane was a casual driver for McLanachan, his full time
employment being driving for Asda. The Traffic Examiners examined 2
tachograph charts relative to him and they interviewed him on 17
October. They also investigated his hours and driving with Asda.

17. They found that Mr McFarlane was on duty with Asda from 23:20 on 18
March 2008 until 11:15 on 19 March. His McLanachan chart showed him on
19 March going from Cairn Lodge M74 Happendon to Bellshill at 19:10
ending 8:40 on 20 March, with no recording of duty time in getting to or
from the start and finish points. There was no manual record of his
time with Asda. The only manual record is “wrong mode switch
selected”. Thus, the chart was not a true record. A true record
would have revealed insufficient daily rest and exceeding daily driving
by 12½ hours.

18. For a chart of 28 March 2008, Mr McFarlane did a Kilsyth and back
journey for McLanachan. On 28 March, he was on duty with Asda from 1:29
to 8:15 and then commences on the McLanachan chart at 11:45 ending at
22:30. Duty time and work with Asda was not entered on the McLanachan
chart. The most daily rest he could have had was 3½ hours. The daily
driving period would have been exceeded by 10.54 hours. He committed a
weekly rest offence, as given the driving in the period 14 to 22 March,
for both McLanachan and Asda, he took only 14.22 hours and not the 38.07
which Asda recorded on his timesheet. By not keeping true records of
his work, he disguised that he took insufficient daily rest, exceeded
daily driving and failed to take sufficient weekly rest.

19. These matters were raised by the Traffic Examiners at the

respective interviews with Mr McFarlane and Mr Matthew McLanachan as
operator. At interview, Mr McFarlane said that he was friendly through
football with Mr Damien McLanachan and would give them a help out with
the odd shift. He was unpaid as he did it to help out in view of the
football connection. He was on a 45 hour nightshift with Asda. He
could not remember from whom he took the vehicle at Cairn Lodge but
thought he had got a run down in a van. No checks would have been made
by McLanachans on what hours he had worked elsewhere. I record here,
that the agents for operator and driver cross examined the VOSA Traffic
Examiners at various points in the hearing on their use of the term
“false record”, putting it to them that the driver(s) had not
knowingly omitted to record duty time. Thus, in respect of Mr
McFarlane, his agent cross examined the Traffic Examiner on this point.
The Traffic Examiner’s response was that the record was a “false
record” as the full duty time was not recorded. The driver, Mr
McFarlane, might have made a manual record, but did not. It was put to
the Traffic Examiners that they were using “a false record” rather
than “failure to record duty time”. In response to this cross
examination in respect of Mr McFarlane, the Traffic Examiner responded
that if Mr McFarlane had done a proper manual record on the back, it
would have shown that he had not had a daily rest. So, it was false.
There must be intent, intent to disguise that he had not had daily rest.
He had not filled in the reverse of the chart (other than in respect of
the mode switch). It was put to the Traffic Examiner that Mr McFarlane
had not recorded the journey to and from Cairn Lodge but there was no
evidence of intent, of him deliberately falsifying a record. The
Examiner could give no further answer than that which she had given.
Traffic Examiner Quinn pointed out that, at interview, Mr McFarlane had
said “I think I got taken down in a van but I have not written on the
back here that I got a lift down there” which showed he knew that he
had to write on the back of the chart.

Mr McFarlane’s evidence

20. Mr McFarlane is 43 with a clean driving licence. He has held the

entitlement since he was 21. He is a mechanic by trade and it helped
him to have the entitlement. Only in the last 6 to 7 years has driving
been his main source of income. He is a full time Asda driver working
on a rota which starts sometime between midnight and 3am, with
deliveries which could entail trunk work and finishing at approximately
11am 4 or 5 days per week. He runs a football team and was friendly
with Damien McLanachan and, if they were stuck for a driver, he went and
helped out as they helped with the football. He would get a text
message to see if he was available and if he could have helped, he would
have done it.

21. In respect of the charts for 19/20 March, he recalled taking a

lorry from Cairn Lodge to Bellshill but did not record the journey from
home to the operating centre as he was not aware he had to. That came
out at interview. It is never an issue in his normal job and so it was
a surprise. It was put to him by not recording he was intending to hide
anything and he said no, that if he was going to hide anything, why
would he have handed the charts in. In accepting to do the work, he had
not thought about daily rest. He accepted that he had not had
sufficient daily rest. The driving on 28 March was the same sort of
incident that he got a text or a phone call and could he help. He
finished at 8:15 with Asda. After he finished with the McLanachan
shift, he had longer time off. After the VOSA investigation with Asda,
he was suspended by Asda and then resigned, as he knew he was going to
get sacked. He is currently not working but is registered with
agencies. He enjoys driving and had put himself through ADR training to
try and secure a job. Because of this Inquiry hanging over him, he did
not feel it was right to take a job given that the inevitable would
happen. He appreciated the seriousness. If he was tired, he would pull
in and have a sleep. He is in financial hardship and he knew that he
had done wrong. It had led to the loss of his job. Other than the
journeys for which there were these charts, he felt there was one other
journey he could remember doing from McLanachan. It did not happen all
the time and there was not a pattern of helping out.

Closing submission for Mr McFarlane

22. It was submitted that this was not deliberate falsification and
that the guidance of Practice Direction number 3 should not apply. This
was a failing to record duty time. There was no evidence of intent or
mens rea. He does accept that his Asda work was not recorded on the
charts and that impacted on daily rest. He is contrite. He has
suffered from the consequences of his action. He had been candid. I
was invited not to revoke.

Decision in relation to Mr McFarlane

23. Given that Mr McFarlane’s was a finite case which did not have
great implications for the rest of the Driver Conduct hearings and
Public Inquiry, I took the decision on 27 May that Mr McFarlane was not
fit by reason of his conduct and that his entitlement be suspended for a
period of 3 weeks from 23:59 on 27 May 2009. That decision was
intimated orally to Mr McFarlane and his agent, their preference being
for that immediate decision. That decision has not been the subject of
appeal.

MR DAVID STEWART - DRIVER NO: STEWA 402107 D99EN

24. Mr Stewart has a goods vehicle speeding conviction from 2005 - 3

points.

Traffic examiner evidence

25. Traffic Examiners looked at 30 charts for driver Mr David Stewart

and he was interviewed on 17 October 2008. The charts of concern were
all for the same vehicle and was engaged in general haulage work. They
considered that there were 8 false records.

26. His chart for 1 March 2008 which showed 3 full scale deflections
(FSDs) and a journey Stafford to Stibbington ended at 19:25. However,
this vehicle was noted as entering Tesco, Peterborough (14 miles from
Stibbington) at 00:06 on 2 March and leaving at 01:34. If the Tesco
journey had been shown on his chart, this would have shown that he had
insufficient daily and insufficient weekly rest. They regarded the
chart as a false record to hide the Tesco delivery and duty driving
time. At interview, Mr Stewart denied any knowledge of Tesco at
Peterborough. He could not recall going there. He could not understand
the Traffic Examiner’s allegation that he had tipped off the card.
He denied any use of interrupters or fiddling the tachos.

27. His chart for 2/3 March was Stibbington to Linwood starting at
19:35 with an immediately consecutive odometer reading. This chart
again served to hide the journey to Tesco, Peterborough aforementioned.

28. For 8/9 March, his journey was Bellshill to Portsmouth with no
record of duty/driving time from home to collecting the vehicle at
Bellshill. At interview, Mr Stewart explained that he lived 2 miles
from Bellshill and one of his family or a taxi would have taken him from
home to Bellshill. The Traffic Examiners explained duty time and the
import of the Skills Coaches decision to him as he claimed not to know
about recording the journeys to or from the vehicle if not at base. In
cross examination at the Inquiry, Traffic Examiner Quinn opined that Mr
Stewart did know about this duty time provision in respect of getting to
or from the vehicle.
29. For 12/13 March, the journey was Wrexham to Bellshill. The job was
to uplift cheese at Ash Manor and Mr Stewart’s signature was on the
documentation. It was the Traffic Examiners’ view that the uplift had
been made when the premises started loading at 6am and would take about
half an hour. They had a statement taken over the phone from the
Operations Director of Ash Manor Cheese. That statement included that
they did not keep a record of times in and out. They did not ask the
Director what the actual time for Mr Stewart’s loading was. In cross
examination, it came out that they had no evidence as to the actual time
the vehicle was loaded. What was missing for them was a record by the
driver of his duty time doing the paperwork at Ash Manor. They had no
evidence to contest Mr Stewart’s assertion that he loaded at 15:30.

30. At interview, Mr Stewart said that it might only take 20 minutes to

load but that they could be kept sitting for 5 to 6 hours at Ash Manor.
The Traffic Examiner could not see the duty time at Ash Manor. Mr
Stewart described the procedure as going in, opening the door and
sitting and twiddling your thumbs until they tell you to go.

31. For 14/15 March, the journey was Northampton to Rosyth ending at
11:03. His next chart 15/16 March is for Rosyth to Zeebrugge,
commencing 17:00. Ferry records show him and his vehicle on the 17:00
departing ferry.

32. At interview, Mr Stewart first of all asserted he was a foot

passenger; then admitted driving the vehicle on. This was not recorded
as it would interrupt his daily rest which he agreed and then retracted.
The Traffic Examiners consider his chart for 15 March to be a false
record as his duty/drive on to the ferry was not recorded.

33. There was extensive cross examination during this and other
sections of the Inquiry of the Traffic Examiners regarding the
arrangements for loading at Rosyth. Particular productions referred to
were the statement the Traffic Examiners obtained from Mr Andrew
Marshall, the Duty Manager at the Rosyth terminal and an email from Mr
Turnbull of Superfast Ferries to Mr Mathew McLanachan, which Mr
McLanachan had provided to the Traffic Examiners.

34. Mr Marshall’s statement recorded that McLanachan’s vehicles did

not go unaccompanied on to the ferry. The arrangement was that a driver
(A) would bring the unit and trailer to the weighbridge, drive to check
in with the unit and trailer being checked in (not passengers). Driver
(A) would park the unit in the yard and leave the port. Driver (B)
would check in at the foot passenger check in and would be given his
boarding pass and cabin key and would go through security on foot and
then to the vehicle and trailer and would drive them on to the ship. A
driver could not drive the unit and trailer on to the ferry and come off
as a foot passenger. Neither, a shunter nor other employee from the
port would drive a unit and trailer on to the boat. The Traffic
Examiners acknowledged that several drivers said that stevedores did
load the vehicles and that was what Mr Turnbull’s email also said.
The Traffic Examiners were caught between these two statements. They
also found Mr Stewart’s account at interview confusing. The paperwork
for the trip has a section PAX and underneath stated whether passenger
or not. They were of the view that Mr Stewart drove the vehicle on.
35. For 26/27 March, the journey was Sittingbourne to Glasgow. Fruit
market records at Glasgow showed the vehicle unloaded between 7.00 and
7:30. The Traffic Examiners had relied on the fruit market’s booking
in schedule, which had half hour slots. They did not ask how accurate
these were. The driver put in his chart when he came out of the fruit
market and therefore did not record any duty time at the fruit market.
If duty time at the fruit market had been recorded, he would have
insufficient daily rest. Mr Stewart at interview asked how 10 seconds
of handing out paperwork through a window could be recorded. He said he
had arrived at the fruit market at 1:30am with no one there and parked
in the bay and at 7:30 he handed the paperwork out at the window.

36. For 27 March, the journey is Glasgow to Northampton with a start

working day entry of 11:16. This includes the duty time of delivery at
Glasgow fruit market.

37. For 29/30 March, the journey is Cardiff to Bruxelle; he manually

recorded the start of working day at 11:00, with other work to 12:30 and
driving from 14:00. He manually recorded that the card had been
inserted wrongly at 11:00. The vehicle is recorded at Cardiff Panasonic
from 7:45 to 8:30. He does not record that. If he had done so, it
would have shown that he had insufficient daily rest. The record was
false as it hides the Panasonic duty/drive time. At interview, he made
no comment on this.

38. The following other points emerged during the interview with Mr
Stewart. He has been a LGV driver for 30 years and employed full time
by McLanachans for 4 years doing local national and international
general haulage jobs; paid weekly by bank transfer. Time sheets
completed and handed in or faxed to the office; had received no training
on drivers’ hours but learned on the job over those 30 years; if away
for a long time, paperwork would be handed over at a change over to
another driver; changeovers could happen anywhere. He would get his
work by satellite or phone call from the office. If he did not have the
hours and thought he could not do a job, he told them “end of
story”.

39. The Examiners considered that the FSDs on the chart of 1 March were
evidence of some interference or ongoing fault with the tachographs, but
they did not put that to Mr Stewart at interview as their interest was
the journey between the charts.

40. The Examiners use Autoroute as an indication to them of distances

but did not know of any warranty as to its accuracy. They had not
travelled the route to Tesco Peterborough. They were of the view the
vehicle journeyed to Tesco between the 2 charts.

Mr Stewart’s evidence

41. Mr Stewart’s conviction was for a speeding when in his lorry at

57mph on the A1 north of Newcastle in a 40 mile speed limit. He was
aware of the importance of speed limits and on that occasion, had not
been rushing and was about to finish his day.

42. He has held his licence since 1971 and has been with McLanachans
for 4½ years. He normally does refrigerated work and McLanachans is
only his third employer in his working life. He described the working
conditions as average. He loves the job as it takes him to places he
has never been to and could only otherwise have seen on a map. He found
there were no airs and graces to McLanachans. He had not had any
drivers’ hours training other than when tachographs first came in in
the late 80s but 6 to 7 months ago after the VOSA investigation, he got
training from McLanachans. He had never been pulled up by his employer
for his tachograph charts. He had found the training informative.
Until Traffic Examiner Quinn told him of the “Skills Coaches” ruling
he had not heard of it and he has since then had to apply that rule.

43. Mr Stewart admitted that on 1 March he tipped at Tesco Peterborough

with no chart in the tachograph head. He did it as he had been told by
Jamie McLanachan in the office that the load needed to be tipped that
night and there was no one else to do it. He knew it was wrong. He had
the rest of the day until Sunday night for rest. His mileage on the
chart for 2/3 March was correct and not false.

44. His chart for 8/9 March has him starting at Bellshill which is a
few minutes from where he lives at Coatbridge. He often left and pick
up his vehicle at Bellshill and did not know he had to record his
journey to and from there. He only found that out from Traffic Examiner
Mr Quinn.

45. He remembered the cheese load of 12/13 March. It was loaded during
the day just before he left. It had been delayed and he had to collect
it. He was in his bed in the cab when it was loaded. There are no
loading bays as such, just a dead end road. His charts were accurate.

46. For the chart 14/15 March, his vehicle was put on by one of the
Rosyth stevedores. He would take his bags out of his vehicle and walk
on to the ferry as a passenger. He could get access to the vehicle if
he wished but usually did not. The keys would be left in the vehicle or
on a grill. He was confused at the interview as he could not mind which
day he had shipped out. He did not think he had done anything wrong
that day. He said the information that third parties did not load the
vehicles was rubbish.

47. On 26/27 March, he had arrived at the Glasgow fruit market in the
early hours of the morning and reversed on to the bay which is sealed
and he went to bed. At 7.30am, a chap asked him for the paperwork and
he handed it out through the window and got it back later on. He sat
there until ready to go. He denied failing to record some duty time as
in his view he had no duty, he took no part in the tipping other than
handing the paperwork out of the window. He did not set out to hide
anything. His chart was correct.

48. On 29/30 March, he loaded at Panasonic without a chart in the

tachograph head. There were 3 McLanachan vehicles loading at the same
time. It was a secure load and they had to have each other in sight at
all times and could not travel on their own. He did not put a chart in
as he would not be able to start until later. It was all about
security. His instructions came from Jamie McLanachan in the office,
that the 3 must leave together and he supposed that to be so, even if
breaking the law. His was loaded first taking 20 to 47 minutes and he
was sleeping when the other two were loading.

49. He realised that the rules are there to ensure that there are no
tired drivers. If he gets tired, he pulls over. He will never do this
again. He realised he could be a danger on the road.

Closing Submissions for Mr Stewart

50. Of the 8 alleged false records, 2 are accepted. There were 2

instances of failing to record loading and unloading. Tescos and the
RDCs put drivers in an invidious position. A driver ought to make sure
he has an appropriate break. He has given an account of what happened
at Tesco. On 1 March he was told what was expected of him and he did
it. He had been candid and was aware of the consequences. He had been
stupid and foolish. On 29/30 March, the 3 vehicles had to travel
together and he did a load without a chart. His reticence was due to
this being a conjoined hearing as he has a sense of loyalty to this
employer. He rested after loading and the 3 vehicles went together.

51. His ordinary driving licence is now clean and he had 3 points
previously for speeding.

52. He did not accept the accuracy of the VOSA Autoroute evidence. For
not recording his journey to Bellshill, he was surprised that he had to
record that. He will do that in the future. He had been ignorant and
there was no evidence of deliberate falsification.

53. The allegations in respect of 12/13 March are challenged. The

Traffic Examiners did not question when he actually did load at Ash
Manor Cheese. It was submitted that Mr Stewart’s evidence should be
accepted that this was a delayed load. His record was not false. His
account of what happened at the fruit market was sound and correct. The
evidence of what happened at the ferries was contrary to the actuality.
VOSA preferred Mr Marshall’s statement to what actually happened. A
driver should be allowed some latitude recalling events at interviews
about several months before, especially if the driver has had several
ferry crossings. After receiving the brief, the driver has refined his
memory that the vehicle was loaded by a third party on that occasion.

54. It was submitted also that the times given for the loading of
vehicles on 26/27 was so inaccurate that they were questionable. There
was not sufficient evidence to counter Mr Stewart’s evidence.

55. Mr Stewart had been candid after the Traffic Commissioner had put
questions to him. He can be compliant and has had training. I was
invited not to revoke his entitlement and if suspended to restrict that
to allow him to work.

MR BRIAN WATKINS - DRIVER NO: WATKI 809081 B99RR

56. Mr Watkins has a conviction of July 2006 for failing to give the
identity of a driver - £170 fine and 3points.

57. The Traffic Examiners considered 2 tachograph record sheets for Mr

Watkins and 2 digital downloads for him in the period investigated.

58. Their first concern was a false record on 1 March 2008 when he
failed to record that he had left his vehicle at Rosyth and travelled
back to Kilsyth by car. Thus, he had made a false record by not
recording manually on his driver’s card/vehicle his true duty/drive
time back to home/operating centre. The next related to 24 March 2008
for a journey Kilsyth - Mossend and his failing to record his duty time
in getting back to Kilsyth that day.

59. The Traffic Examiners also checked his time sheets for his other
employment with H & R Transport (Kilsyth) Ltd and in the period 25
February 2008 to 3 March 2008 found insufficient weekly rest i.e. at no
time during the period had he been off work for 24 hours. They also
found that he had taken insufficient daily rest on 24 March 2008.

Mr Watkins’ evidence

60. Mr Watkins is 27 and got his HGV entitlement when aged 21 but had
not always used it for his livelihood but does now. The conviction of
July 2006 was when he was caught speeding in his lorry. He was caught
by a speed camera. He was working away from home. He sent the form
away and it was not received and it ended up in him getting a £170 fine
and 3 points. He has had no convictions since. He has worked for H &
R Transport at Kilsyth for 2 years and was employed by them at the time
of the investigation. He is self taught on tachograph matters. He did
not know about making the manual entry. The distances involved i.e.
Rosyth to Kilsyth and Mossend to Kilsyth are respectively about an hour
and about half an hour. He had no intention of making a false record
and he now appreciates the seriousness. His work for H & R Transport
did not require the use of his vocational licence. He is now driving a
tipper truck for H & R Transport so is using the vocational licence
there. His knowledge is now greater. He has done no work for
McLanachan since December 2008. He now knows to put a manual entry in.
He knew that it was for safety reasons.

Closing submissions for Mr Watkins

61. The previous conviction was an error on his part. There was no
deliberate falsification of records by him. What he did was fail to
record travelling in a car on relative short journeys. He simply did
not know. Road safety was important and he was not trying to get round
the rules. This was ignorance. He had erred with weekly and daily rest
as his main employment was not doing LGV driving. He now knows. There
is unlikely to be any repetition. I was invited to stop short of a
suspension or if not to restrict it to as short as possible.

MR PATRICK JOHN MCINTYRE - DRIVER NO: MCINT 501256 PJ9WH

62. The Examiners had two tachograph records and 1 digital download for
Mr McIntyre. Their analysis for 26 February 2008 revealed insufficient
daily rest and exceeding the daily driving limit. At interview Mr
McIntyre explained that he broke his rest to drive the vehicle on and
off a loading bay in Germany - he had said he couldn’t move but they
“weren’t for having that”. This was his first use of a digital
tachograph. On 12/13 March, the Examiners alleged a false record - this
related to him failing to record his journey to collect the vehicle.
He had not made a manual record and did not know to do so. In relation
to 13/14 March, the Examiners detected a gap of 2km in the V trace
finished position and Mr McIntyre’s record for 14 March at Bellshill
and a start on Mr Christopher McLanachan’s record at 7:05, meaning the
vehicle moved between the two charts. At interview Mr McIntyre denied
driving the vehicle into Morrisons and said that he waited until 6am for
a long haired man from McLanachans to turn up in his car (i.e. Mr
McIntyre’s own) to drive home. The Traffic Examiners were of the
view that he had made a false record by not recording his true duty time
in and out of Morrisons at Bellshill and his drive home. If he had done
so, he would have failed to take sufficient daily rest. Mr McIntyre was
adamant at interview that he had not unloaded at Bellshill that morning
even though Morrisons had his name and time out of 6.22.

63. His interview took place on 31 October 2008 and the Traffic
Examiner accepted that anyone in such a position could be confused or
make an error as to what he was doing on any given date.

Mr McIntyre’s evidence

64. Mr McIntyre gained LGV entitlement through the Army and has used it
as a means of livelihood since 1991. He is working part time for family
reasons. He phoned around for part time work McLanachans offered him a
few shifts. His knowledge of drivers' hours rules came from talking to
other drivers at truck stops and in the yard where someone showed him
how to work the digital tachograph. The journey of 26 February to
Germany was his first with the digital tacho and he had to move as the
police said he was blocking a road. He did not know he had to record
journeys from his home to pick up the vehicle. He did not intend to make
a false record. He now knows what to do. On 14 March he arrived at
Morrisons Bellshill in the early hours and ceased driving at 2am. He
took his card out. He later tipped the load having forgotten his card
was out. He tipped to allow another driver to do other drops. He
accepted that his was not a true record. He had thought he would be in
and out of Morrisons but was in longer. He could not deny that he would
have had insufficient daily rest. At the interview he had not
remembered that he had driven in but he now did.

Closing submissions for Mr McIntrye

65. Mr McIntyre had not known how to record that he had been asked by
the police to move the vehicle. He did not know about recording duty
time. He had put extra effort in at Morrisons and tipped to assist his
employer but understands now. I was asked to stop short of suspending
his entitlement.

MR IAN STEPHEN ROBERTS - DRIVER NO: ROBER7030461S9RK

Traffic Examiner evidence

66. The Traffic Examiners looked at four tachograph records and 2

digital downloads for Mr Roberts who was a part time driver for
McLanachans, his main occupation being taxi driver. He lived across the
road from McLanachan’s yard. For charts of 19 and 20 March he did not
record his duty time from leaving the vehicle. The Examiners had a
difficulty with his charts for 21 March and much time was spent at
interview trying to work out why v traces did not match up, Mr Roberts
being as puzzled as the Examiners over what might have gone on (there
being 2 charts for same day in his name). The Examiners were worried
that charts with the name “Roberts” might be ghost drivers. Later
Mr Roberts phoned the Examiners and said he had used an already used
chart, had realised what he’d done and put in a new chart. It
remained a matter of mystery and made the chart a false record. In the
interview he said that most of the work he had done for McLanachans was
fairly local (Bellshill, Gourock, Larkhall, and sometimes to Coupar
Angus). He had gone out to bring lorries back and had brought back
drivers’ cars or had gone in one of the 2 vans. His instructions came
from Jamie or Damien McLanachan in the office. Often he did only a
couple of hours but it allowed him to build up some extra money.

Mr Roberts’ evidence

67. Mr Roberts, aged 33, is known as Stephen and has had HGV
entitlement since aged 27. He’s a taxi driver with a clean licence.
He was self taught in drivers' hours. He did not know he had to record
the time back from leaving a lorry. He didn’t think he had done
anything wrong. If he had known to record duty time he would have. He
asked VOSA for leaflets but none came but he has since got leaflets.
He’s been doing work for McLanachans due to his car being in the
garage.

Closing submissions for Mr Roberts

68. There was no evidence of deliberate falsification on the dates in

question. He was not aware of the necessity to record his duty time and
only became aware on meeting Traffic Examiner Mr Quinn. If he had known
he would have recorded. He has got leaflets to be compliant. I was
asked to take no action or to restrict any suspension.

MR MARTIN FLANAGAN - DRIVER NO: FLANA611037N99SA

69. The Traffic Examiners were interested in 3 charts in name of Mr

Martin Flanagan being for 26, 27 and 28 March. That for 26 March showed
an end point of Kilsyth whereas Mr Flanagan had handed over the vehicle
at Bothwell and continued in other transport back to Kilsyth. He could
not explain at interview why he had put Bothwell, only that he was going
back to his motor home at Kilsyth. The other two charts related to a
journey which involved tipping at Morrisons at Corby. On examination the
Examiners found that the traces for 27 and 28 did not match up. This
was discussed at interview. The Examiners had paperwork for deliveries
by the vehicle. Mr Flanagan explained it was difficult to park at
Morrisons due to double lines. 20 kms were missing from the charts.
This could be from Morrisons to junction 3 of the M6. The problem for
the Examiners was that the charts had consecutive odometer readings and
so questions arose as to duty time and to daily rest as he had run out
of time. They did not have a clear picture.

Mr Flanagan’s evidence
70. Mr Flanagan, aged 42, has held LGV entitlement since 1994. He
started as a fencer and gradually needed a larger vehicle and then he
went into lorry driving. He has never been out of work and has worked
for a number of operators. He has a clean driving licence. He has had
training from one of his employers. He has only worked a few shifts for
McLanachans and has not worked any since. He had been in dispute with
another employer and during that time he did some agency work and some
work for Matt (McLanachan).

71. On 26 March he had handed over to another driver at Bothwell who

was taking the vehicle south. He had become used to digital tachos and
because he thought he was going back to Kilsyth he put that in. He was
aware that you had to record going back to base and he forgot. He was
not trying to hide anything and there was no benefit to him. His own car
was at Kilsyth.

72. On 27 March he was unloading at Morrisons without a chart. At the

interview he had tried to recall the day but was vague about it. He
accepts that he went into Morrisons without putting a chart in. He did
take time off. He just forgot to put the chart in and forgot to write
on the back. He’d probably thought it was a digital card and got lazy.
The chart for 27 March is a true record but that for the 28th is not a
complete record. He is good with the digital card and prefers it and
does manual entries all the time. He put his hands up to the error of
28 March. He was not trying to hide that he had not taken his break.

Closing submissions for Mr Flanagan

73. The case concerned 3 charts, 2 being for the time at Morrisons at
Corby. Mr Flanagan has been candid. He was aware that entering Kilsyth
as the end point was a mistake. He was used to digital. On 28 March he
did make a journey to Morrisons at Corby without a chart in the head.
Daily rest would be tight but was not breached though it is accepted
that the Traffic Examiners cannot know that as no entry was made. It
was a mistake in failing to put a chart in. He has a good knowledge of
the rules, to his credit. I was asked to show leniency.

MR ALEXANDER STURROCK MILLER - DRIVER NO: MILLE307217ASDS

Traffic examiner evidence

74. The Examiners looked at 34 records for Mr Miller and checked it

against other documentation including ferry and fuel records. They found
matters of concern and interviewed Mr Miller.

75. 26/27 February 2008 was a journey Kilsyth to Portsmouth, crossing

on Brittany Ferries, landing at Ouistreham and fuelling at Caen
Carpiquet. The record was false given Portsmouth and the journey from
landing to fuelling (approx 22kms) had not been recorded. The start
odometer and distance traces match the next chart but there is no record
of the 22kms. It was the Examiners’ view that the driver had pulled
the fuse which he denied. The motivation would be to disguise that
insufficient rest had been taken - rest only 6.23hours - daily driving
exceeded. Putting Ouistreham as the start of the next chart also made
it false.
76. The journey on 27 February was to Poullaouen to offload fish and
the chart showed a journey Ouistreham to Gourin. The Examiners
considered the end location should have been Poullaouen with Gourin used
to disguise the duty time at Poullaouen and the driving to Gourin. The
journey on 28 February was Gourin to Cherbourg when Ferry documentation
shows the vehicle crossed to Poole. Again this has been done to
disguise the true duty time and driving.

77. Charts for 2 to 4 March involving journeys from Kilsyth to Nuneaton

and Nuneaton and a trailer coming down from Linwood interrupt his rest
and he has insufficient weekly rest. On 5 March on a journey back to the
UK there is paperwork which shows that he has been out of TNT in
Northampton on 6 March - the chart was removed from the tachograph head.
He failed to take sufficient daily rest. Later that day he does a
journey Northampton to Cumbernauld not recording his actual departure
time. He had to go by way of Nuneaton and did not record the journey to
there. He drove to Cumbernauld where he did a change over with Chris
McLanachan, the latter taking the load into ASDA Falkirk. There was no
record of duty time back from Cumbernauld. On 6/7 March he failed to
record the duty time in getting to Bothwell.

78. 7/8 March this was a journey Northampton to Kilsyth. The Examiners
detected that the tachograph head had been opened and the sheet taken
out. The clock has been wound back. The Examiners set out the timings
in their detailed report. The winding back was done to hide that Mr
Miller would have taken insufficient daily rest - 8 hours at most. The
winding back was admitted by Mr Miller when the Examiners interviewed
him.

79. The next journey looked at was 10/11 March on a chart showing
Kilsyth to Portsmouth when in fact the vehicle crossed with Brittany
Ferries to Ouistreham and fuel was drawn at Caen Carpiquet. This was not
recorded. The end destination should have been Caen Carpiquet. It was
the Examiners’ view that the fuse had been pulled. This was to hide
that only 7.25hours of daily rest and that he had driven for 14.40
hours. This was a false record.

80. The chart for 11 March should have shown a start of Caen Carpiquet
but showed Ouistreham to Lampaul Guimiliau. There were deliveries to St
Pol du Leon and cleaning out of the trailer -used for fish and going for
ice cream - which cleaning duty was not recorded as other work. Again
this done as if recorded there would have been insufficient daily
rest/exceeding daily driving.

81. The chart for 12 March was Lampaul Guimiliau to Roscoff when in
fact there was a ferry crossing to Plymouth so the chart was a false
record.

82. 12/13 March was Plymouth to Hamilton with the next chart for the
vehicle being for Mr Blackwood (mechanic/driver) at 11am with Mr Miller
not recording his time back to the operating centre (30mins journey). If
that had been recorded he would have failed to have sufficient daily
rest/exceeding driving period.

83. 13/14 March is also affected by the previous failure to record duty
time as the time for daily rest is affected. The driver was at
Norfolkline Larkhall and duty time there and at the operating centre at
Kilsyth was not recorded. This affects daily rest with daily driving
time exceeded - driven for 15.20 hours. The chart is Kilsyth to
Portsmouth. For 14 March there is a Brittany Ferry crossing to
Ouistreham and fuelling at Caen Carpiquet - much as in the pattern noted
for previous journeys. Again the Examiners considered that a fuse had
been pulled again to disguise insufficient daily rest/exceeding daily
driving. The chart for 14/15 March is affected by that before given the
start location is given as Ouistreham. The Examiners also had a fuel
record which was not recorded on the chart.

84. The chart for 15/16 March is St Pol de Leon to Northampton. The
clock was wound back, distance traces did not match up and there were
several head openings. The chart times do not accord with TNT
Northampton paperwork. This chart is a false record.

85. For 17/18 March the journey was Northampton to Nuneaton with a
clock winding back and head openings. The Examiners also considered
that Mr Miller had changed vehicles coming down to Penrith.

86. For 19 March, Mr Miller’s chart shows Nuneaton to Harwich. Stena

Line Ferries show the vehicle on board with driver A Miller. The chart
shows a winding back of the clock of 2 hours at Harwich which would
disguise insufficient daily rest. The end destination of Europort is not
given. The charts for 19/20 March are not a true record as that from
Europort to Bockel fails to record a delivery to Hemsbuende. The chart
was removed at 5.30 on the 20th and recordings begin again approximately
five hours later. True records would have revealed insufficient daily
rest - only 4.25 hours and driving for 14.20 hours. The next chart of
20 March is false given the previous chart end destination of Bockel.
The recordings are from Hemsbeunde to Emmen where there was a load to be
lifted.

87. On 24/25 March for a journey Kilsyth to Heathrow, Mr Miller failed

to take sufficient daily rest.

88. For 28 March a journey from Hemsbeunde to Meer was considered to be

a false record in that a fuelling at Meer was not recorded as the chart
ended 4 hours previously. Also the Examiners considered that Meer was
not the end destination. All this was done to hide insufficient daily
rest/exceeding daily driving.

89. The last charts for Mr Miller were for 29 March and journeys in to
Scandinavia - I will not record this part of the evidence for matters to
do with the Scandinavian run were aired in cross examination and Mr
Miller’s evidence and the Examiners accepted that there had been
misunderstandings about place names and available routes.

90. The Examiners concluded that Mr Miller had made false records to
hide that he was not taking sufficient rest and that he was exceeding
daily driving periods. They also found that he had interfered with the
tachograph recording equipment in winding back the clock and their
professional opinion was that he had pulled a fuse on occasions or
otherwise interfered with the equipment. As the drivers' hours rules
are for road safety he had endangered that.

Mr Miller’s evidence
91. He is a 71year old with a clean driving licence who obtained his
HGV licence in 1958 and has always used it. He has worked for
McLanachans for 5 or 6 years following redundancy. He has worked all
over Europe and to the Middle East including Iran and Iraq and enjoys
being a continental lorry driver and the variety. His vehicle is
tracked with the satellite in the cab and normally he gets enough time
to do the job.

92. He admits to winding back the clock on there occasions and also of
not having a chart in the head. However, he denies pulling a fuse as
that is something he does not do. What he had done on 26/27 February was
to drive without a chart in, to give himself some time. There was no
excuse.

93. At Poullaouen the procedure is to drive in, there is no gate. He

sometimes washed his trailer there or in a layby, never at Gourin. He
accepts that on 27 February he drove without a chart in the head to get
him along his journey faster and to make it easier to get back. He was
not bothered about the French police as they had “got to catch you
first”. He had been caught a couple of times and had got away with it
by pleading innocent.

94. He was emphatic that he denied pulling a fuse and claimed it could
not be done in an automatic gear box as it would knacker the gear box
which VOSA should know. One of the mechanics at Scania had told him
never to pull a fuse as it would knacker the gearbox and so he never
ever did because of that.

95. For 5 March, his name and vehicle was on the paperwork for the
journey Linwood to Northampton. The guys at the gatehouse struggle with
English. Your name has to be on it so that you are booked on the train.
If you are at Eurotunnel and it is not your name on the paperwork you
will not get on the train.

96. He could not remember the circumstances of 7/8 March. It was too
long ago. He knew how to wind back a tachograph. It was a bit daft
but every else knows though he wasn’t saying that everyone winds back
the clock.

97. There was nothing wrong with his Scandinavian charts as if VOSA had
checked the ferries they would have known the times. VOSA had used an
incorrect route. [The Traffic Examiners looked again at what he said and
accepted what he said about the correct location: they therefore only
asserted 20 false records, not 22]

98. He couldn’t fiddle with some of his former employers eg Intercity

who were 100% legal and who would have sacked him. McLanachans did not
know what he was doing; it was off his own back to make life easier to
get somewhere. He is sticking to the rules now and has been through a
tacho course and has plenty of time to do the job. He would like to
carry on driving.

Closing submissions for Mr Miller

99. It was recognised that 20 false records was a serious tally. He

had been candid at interview about winding back the clock and adamant
that he had not pulled any fuse. He did not accept the evidence of
Autoroute. He appreciates that action will be taken against his
licence.

MR KEITH EDWARD NICHOLSON - DRIVER NO: - NICHO603060KE9DA

100. Mr Nicholson has one speeding conviction - September 2005, 3

points.

Traffic Examiner evidence

101. The Examiner looked at 29 digital tachograph records for Mr

Nicholson and alleged 7 offences. He was interviewed.

102. The 7 offences were:

103. On 3 March he exceeded daily driving by 48 minutes. He admitted

this at interview.

104. On 11 March he is the only driver with vehicle SF07 CBX. He

records a start of work when it should be end of duty and leaves his
card in the unit. He removes his card and then the vehicle is driven on
four occasions for short periods, between which there is other work.
The unit shows this but his driver card shows him on daily rest. He
admitted that he had moved the vehicle but could not say why he removed
his driver card before doing so. (The Examiner clarified that he had
been made aware that the opening times at Poullaouen were open for
longer than 4-12.)

105. On 13 March he withdraws his card at 3.16 and the vehicle is

booked into Morrisons RDC Corby at 3.20 and booked out at 6.50. In
between these times the vehicle is driven for some minutes and then
again. Duty on loading and manoeuvring has not been recorded on his
card. He has not recorded all of his duty. He admitted that he moved
the vehicle.

106. On 14 March he records end of work, then has rest and withdraws
his card. The unit records a short period of driving and other work.
He later inserts his card and then withdraws it (times given in the
Examiner’s statement) and commences daily rest on the Rosyth/Zeebrugge
Ferry. The withdrawal of the card disguises that he has had a spread
over of 20 hours 13 minutes in 24 hours and so fails to have sufficient
daily rest. He thought that a docker at Rosyth put the vehicle on the
ferry and that he was a foot passenger but was unsure. The Examiner
conceded that if Mr Nicholson was not responsible for putting the
vehicle on the ferry then it may not be a false record.

107. On 16/17 March the evidence from the unit shows a spread over of
17 hours 12 minutes and that he has only had 6hours 48 minutes of the
minimum daily rest. Also during this period he exceeds the permitted
maximum 10 hours driving. Lastly on 17/18 March he again exceeded the
maximum daily drive of 10 hours. He accepted this happened on these
dates. The Examiner had seen the very comprehensive diary which Mr
Nicholson keeps and which showed for example that the 18 minutes in
relation to the last alleged offence was due to him not being able to
get parked.
Mr Nicholson’s evidence

108. Mr Nicholson (49) has been an HGV driver since 1991 and always
wanted to drive Lorries and this is his livelihood. He has worked with
McLanachans since June 2003 and does continental and UK work. His
speeding conviction was in 2005 - 3 penalty points when he had been in a
traffic jam and was trying to get a delivery done. There has been no
repetition.

109. He accepted that he was over in his driving time on 3 March.

Norfolkline wanted the load back at Larkhall that night. He’d told
them he would be pushing it. They are always on the phone. He was told
to do the best he could. He did not phone his own office. If this was
to happen again he would ring the office and arrange for a trailer
change or re-booking of the load.

110. He got to Poullaouen 10 March and parked on the bay which is

sealed so the trailer can be opened. He described the procedures there
including that the gate can be pulled open. There are trailer washing
facilities there and people to help unload. Normally there are 9 hours
to unload but this time they wanted it quicker and so he had to move and
then to find somewhere to park which explained the small movements. He
had to move as otherwise he would have caused hassle for other drivers.

111. On 13 March he tipped at Morrisons Corby. He had expected to tip

at 1 but got there at 3.20 and it was 6 when they said they would take
it. He told them his time was up but they said 6 or they would reject
it. He accepted that he made these movements within Morrisons without
the card in and that he did not tell his office. It was his fault not to
do a change over. He took his card out as he was going to tip off the
card. After he came out of Morrisons he had to find somewhere to park.
There was no financial gain to him in tipping off the card. It was a
mistake as he knew he would not be going north until the late afternoon
any way as there are always evening loads to come up eg from Dairy Crest
at Nuneaton. He did not know what the consequences to him would have
been if Morrisons had rejected the load. There is a lot of pressure at
the RDCs and they do not care if you tell them you are short of time.
He thought the company could be banned if it didn’t co-operate with
them. Asked by me if he felt between a rock and a hard place he said
“sometimes, yes.”

112. In relation to 15 March he thinks he did drive the vehicle on to

the Rosyth Ferry that day but could not be sure of what job he was going
to. Sometimes a McLanachan employee will take the vehicle to the ferry
and the driver would go on as a foot passenger. Sometimes it would be a
docker and the keys would be left in the truck in the trailer park and
he would take his personal belongings out and go on foot through the
passenger terminal and get the vehicle the next morning. On 15 March he
thought he was doing an Italian run but it was changed to Germany and so
he put the card in. If going to Germany he did not need to leave
Zeebrugge early whereas Italy you need as much rest as possible to get
going early. He was confused in his recollection of what exactly he had
done on the two occasions he used that boat that year. At 2pm he drove
the lorry to the ferry park. Then at 17.05 he put it on the ferry.

113. On 16/17 March he made a mess as he thought he would be loading

after his 9 hours rest but they wanted loaded that afternoon. This
affected the calculations of his driving time. On 17 March he was at
Dover with nowhere to park and went over the 10 hours trying to find
somewhere. He ended up at a small village near Ashford.

Closing submissions for Mr Nicholson

114. His licence is now clean; there has been no repetition of

speeding. He was co-operative with the VOSA investigation. He accepts
that he moved off the bay at Poullaouen. He was subject to the pressures
on drivers at RDCs and for accountability for the load. Even with the
aid of his diary, he could not be sure what happened at Rosyth that day.
It is a long crossing. He knows he made a mess of his reduced rest
calculation. He did not know to make a manual entry to cover his
difficulty in finding parking at Dover.

MR SCOTT (Richard) WEST - DRIVER NO: WEST9 705044

115. Mr West has a 2006 goods vehicle speeding conviction - 3points.

Traffic examiner evidence

116. The Examiners had 9 record sheets and digital data for Mr West and
they also interviewed him. For 5 journeys he had not recorded his duty
time going to and from the vehicle including one journey to Rosyth
Ferry. Despite revealing a good understanding in the interview of the
drivers' hours’ rules he had not known to record duty time and no one
at McLanachans had told him. He had worked for McLanachans for 6 months
and Jamie McLanachan scheduled it including making sure he got home.
Thus he took his 45 and 24 hours rest always at home. He handed his
charts in to the office to Jamie who checks them. Two charts were
missing and Mr West said he had handed them in to the operator. He had
one journey up to Lochinver which was a disaster as the sat nav gave him
instructions which led to him getting stuck. That was 25/26 March so he
remembered it as it was a really bad night for him as he had wrecked the
trailer and a new one had to be got from Fraserburgh. He said he kept a
record and handed it in.

117. The Examiners had a chart for 29 March of M McLanachan taking NK

05 CYH to Rosyth. The Ferry records show this as a 0 passenger crossing
ie the driver taking the vehicle into the port was not down to cross
with it. Mr West said he travelled by car to Rosyth. On 30 March, Mr
West took the chart out of the vehicle and his chart for 30/31 March was
Zeebrugge to Hemsbuende. There were 3kms missing between the charts and
a speed start not consistent with ferry disembarking. By not recording
duty time and by the missing 3kms Mr West failed to keep a proper record
and also failed to take sufficient weekly rest. Mr West’s
understanding from the company was that the way the journey was recorded
was okay. Mr West thought the 3kms must have been him coming off the
boat to park in a safe place as he could not cross into Germany until
10pm. This was Mr West’s first time on the Ferry over to Germany.
The Examiners were not alleging that he drove the vehicle to Rosyth
simply that he did not record his duty time and that had a knock on
effect.

Mr West’s evidence
118. Mr West (35) has one speeding conviction - in his fuel tanker on
the A68 on the night shift and he let the speed run on and didn’t
counter it. He realised speed limits were for safety. He was caught on
camera. There has been nothing since.

119. He got his LGV entitlement when in the Army in 1996. There were
no drivers' hours training in the Army. On leaving the Army in 2004 he
worked as a motor bike instructor and then went to work for Yuill &
Dodds for a year but found that the driving was being pushed to the
limits. He then moved to Brogan Fuels for 2½years and started with
McLanachans in February/March 2008 ie the time covered by the VOSA
investigation. He picked up his knowledge of drivers hours by himself
looking at posters and asking questions. He was told about recording
duty time by the Examiners at the interview. He had not known that he
was doing wrong in not recording that.

120. On 29 March, Mr M McLanachan took the vehicle to Rosyth. Mr West

got a lift there from a Polish driver who was sent with him as it was Mr
West’s first trip abroad. He had his own vehicle. Mr McLanachan took
the vehicle through to the holding side and a shunter put it on. He
went on as a foot passenger and had watched the truck being driven on
board. He received no instructions including none from the Polish
driver in how to record the ferry crossing. He got the keys from the
shunter. He had been told it was allowed to take the vehicle off the
ferry and to stop and park up. Radek, the Polish driver had done the
journey a few times so he took it as read. The speeding up was not him
leaving the ferry but the truck stop. He did not record the movement off
the ferry. He did not know he was doing anything wrong.

121. He wants to be compliant. He is still working for McLanachans

driving to France, Germany, and Holland, Belgium and is apprehensive of
the French police but has not been stopped.

Closing submissions for Mr West

122. Mr West had given an account of the speeding conviction. He also

told of leaving a former employer who put drivers under pressure. At
the time of the investigation he had just started with McLanachans.
There was no evidence of deliberately falsifying. He just did not know
he had to record duty time. He has taken VOSA’s advice on board. In
respect of 29 March it was now understood that VOSA were alleging a
failure to record duty time. Regulation 561/2006 art 9(2) applies to
the journey and the calculation of weekly rest.

123. His evidence clearly was that not just drivers put vehicles on to
the Rosyth Ferry as he saw his vehicle being put on. This was contrary
to the Examiners’ understandings of what happened at Rosyth.

124. Given that there was no evidence of deliberate falsification I was

urged to take no action, failing which a short as possible suspension.

MR JOHN CRAW - DRIVER NO: CRAW9 608172 JC9BR

125. Mr Craw was at a driver conduct hearing in July 2007 on drivers'

hour’s matters and I suspended his entitlement for four weeks. The
Traffic Examiner’s report in relation to that was copied in the call
up letter. He has a speeding conviction of 10 June 2008 - £180 fine and
4 points.

Traffic examiner evidence

126. The Examiners had concerns over 2 of Mr Craw’s charts and also
that charts were not available for journeys which according to
McLanachan traffic sheets he had undertaken on 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 11,12
and 13 March. Mr Craw said that he kept his 28 day charts with him as
he went to France and the way he would get charts back to the office was
by giving them clipped together in an envelope to one of the changeover
drivers. The Examiners formed the view that a chart of 25 February in
name of Damien McLanachan was really a chart for Mr Craw. ASDA gatehouse
had noted the driver as a Mr Foster yet no one of that name appeared on
McLanachan records. Similarly, at Somerfield Pitreavie the name appears
and that was a place Mr Craw went to. On 25 February Mr Craw’s chart
records him as on a journey Spalding to Falkirk arriving 20:50. There
is no record of what Mr Craw did next. At interview, he said he was
unaware he had to record travel home and that he would have gone home.
He said he may have been with Damien McLanachan when Mr McLanachan went
into ASDA Falkirk the next morning - at 6. The Examiners suspected that
Mr McLanachan’s name had been used by Mr Craw. Both men denied that.

127. The Examiners had McLanachan’s daily traffic sheet and other
documentation for Mr Craw’s work on 12/14 March and a chart of 13/14
March which is for Kilsyth to Bellshill 23:15 to 3:10 (journey to
Prestwick). There is no record of the previous driving and in the view
of the Examiners this was to disguise that daily rest would only have
been 5.08 hours. Thus, the chart of 13 March is a false record as it
does not include the times for earlier on 13 March ie duty time. In the
Examiner’s view, Mr Craw had not recorded his duty time. He was using
different vehicles between the dates ie 12/13 to 13/14.

Mr Craw’s evidence

128. The speeding conviction was for driving at 80mph in a 60mph area,
in his car on the A7. He has been driving Lorries since aged 25 - he’s
now 47. He has worked for McLanachans for 4 years and had been before
me before when he worked for Body Repairs of Earlston and he had taken
that on board. His chart for 12/13 March is missing. He gets his charts
back to the operator through the changeovers with other paperwork (CMRs)
which has to go back. There was a clash of personalities with one of
the Polish drivers who did changeovers. The chart was left in the truck
which was his usual day in day out truck (SJ03 GFP) when the driver went
away with it. It was only when he went on his drivers’ hours training
that he recognised that he had insufficient rest in the period 12-14
March. He has been trying to comply and can’t explain if the charts
get lost.

Submissions

129. Mr Craw had explained the speeding conviction. He was concerned to

be at a second driver conduct hearing. He took on board all that
happened in 2005. In respect of the current case, there was no evidence
of any wrong doing by Mr Craw on 25 February. For 12/13 March there is
an allegation of a false record somewhere but no chart. His evidence was
of returning all charts. He did not have sufficient daily rest in the
24 hour period 13/14 March. He has since had training. He is still
fit.

MR ALISTER JAMES ROBERT PRIESTLEY - DRIVER NO: PRIES607050AJ9NE

Traffic examiner evidence

130. Mr Priestley has worked for 20 years with McLanachans and is on

international work. The Examiners looked at 35 digital tachograph
records for him and alleged 8 offences. They interviewed him and he was
co-operative. He did not bother to complete McLanachan timesheets even
though given them to do (he did not see himself as a secretary!) At
interview the Examiners explained what the driver card would record but
also what would be recorded by the vehicle unit. They focussed their
attention on journeys where Mr Priestley would be in control of the
vehicle, the only driver there, as distinct from the yard where a number
of persons might move it. Their findings showed that Mr Priestley did
not have sufficient rest even though if regard was had only to his
driver card it might look as if he complied.

131. On 24 February he removed his card and re-inserted it later as if

he had a reduced daily rest. However the vehicle unit shows short
periods of driving and other work during the time the card is out. On 28
February he removes his card at 00.21 as if commencing a weekly rest and
the next card in is Damian McLanachan’s at 9.33. The traffic sheet has
Mr Priestly doing a delivery to GIST Cumbernauld. GIST has the vehicle
in and out at 6.20/7.40 with driver name Smythe (who does not exist in
McLanachan records). The vehicle is moved several times in this period.
There is no record of Mr Priestley getting home or back to Kilsyth.
There is a further 8 separate periods of driving not on the driver card.
At interview he went between saying he stayed with the vehicle until
the morning or that his sister in law came to collect him in the early
hours.

132. On 10 March he was in France single crewed. He takes out his card
at various times and appears to take rest but the vehicle unit shows
driving and other work and then the driver changes the mode to rest. He
later re-inserts his driver card (the times are in the Examiners’
report). By removing his card Mr Priestly has disguised that he only
achieved 6 hours 28 mins of daily rest.

133. On 13 March Mr Priestley took over SF07CAX as driver at Larkhall

with no record of duty time recorded as to when he got there. He put
his card in at 19:30 and took it out at 10:00 next day. However, the
unit shows other work to 10:32 and a period of 8minutes further driving
- 1km of distance. By so acting Mr Priestly disguised his actual spread
over and insufficient daily rest.

134. On 17 March he travelled to Ouistreham with fish and took out his
driver card at 9:28 on 19 March and at various times given in the
Examiners’ report the unit shows driving, mode changed to rest, and
reveals that he has taken insufficient daily rest - only 6 hours 39
minutes.

135. Still in the same vehicle, on 20 March he puts in his card at

21:23 - however prior to that the vehicle had been driven without a card
for four short periods. The Examiners considered he made a false record
to hide his spread over being greater and his daily rest only 6hours 25.
On 25 March he begins his daily rest at 10:03 and withdraws his card,
re-inserting it at 19:06 but before he does that there is driving
without a card in for a few minutes and other work. T his is done to
disguise that he only had daily rest of 8hours 29mins.

136. On 31 March he finishes in Germany but during the period which the
card would have shown as rest as it was taken out there was driving and
other word, again to disguise that he did not have sufficient daily
rest.

137. Thus all the alleged offences are the same of driving without a
driver card inserted, thereby affecting daily rest. The Examiner did
not think Mr Priestley’s journeys needed double manning. I f the
vehicle is driven then it will revert to other work. The driver needs
to move the mode to rest. That is why after the short periods of
driving, other work is shown. The driver needs to take a print out and
mark on the back eg blocking entrance gate which would be acceptable to
the Examiners as long as not a daily occurrence.

Mr Priestley’s evidence

138. Mr Priestley is 49 and has worked as a driver since he was 21 and

for McLanachans for over 20 years. He enjoys the continental work and
can be away from home for a week to 3 weeks. Within the last 4 months he
had been at a tacho course at Bathgate which was an eye opener. He had
been on the vehicle in question for about a year and was given little
training. He had not been pulled up before on the different information
between card and unit. He was no longer on a digital lorry. He now
appreciated he must have a card in and he keeps a diary. He could not
recall what had interrupted his rest on 24 February, probably someone
wanting him out of a parking space. On 28 February there was a delivery
to Cumbernauld which they refused to take, so he parked up and then the
awakened him and said they would take it and if he did not delivered
they would reject it. He tried to contact Damien but no answer. That
was how he came to drive the lorry. Damien brought his car over in the
morning. He now knew to record that duty time. He admitted that he was
the name “Smyth”. There are times when security men get up his nose
and he didn’t like having to give his name all the times so he has
signed himself in with different names including “M Ouse” which
sometimes they pick up sometimes not and sometimes they don’t even
look. He realised now what a serious position he was in and will not use
silly names again. There can be animosities between drivers and
gatemen.

139. He could not recall the particular details of the other journeys.
He would take out his card and if they vehicle needed moving by loading
staff he would move the truck without putting the card in. Some of the
movements could be for people needing access. He appreciated that every
movement affected daily rest but did not realise the seriousness at the
time. He would stop if tired and had done that once when he felt under
the weather. He got enough time to do his work. He will comply and will
write on the back of the card as he now knows how.

140. He had health problems including the need to greatly reduce his
weight. Currently he felt healthier and his blood pressure better.

Closing submissions for Mr Priestley

141. He had failed to record duty time and is now aware and will do so
in future. At Cumbernauld on 28 February his position was invidious as
the load had to be moved in or rejected. It was a horrible position for
the driver. All of the drivings disclosed short shuntings with a knock
on to daily rest. He made mistakes and did not know how serious. He has
been candid. This is not as serious as first looked and his record is
good. I was asked not to revoke and to restrict the suspension in light
of the circumstances.

MR CHRISTOPHER MCLANACHAN - DRIVER NO: MCLANA 702183CM8LY

Traffic examiner evidence

142. The Examiner looked at 17 tachograph records and 10 driver cards

for Mr Christopher McLanachan and alleged 15 false records. 12 of
these were in respect of him not making any record of his duty time and
journey to and from vehicles. He is a mechanic in the workshop and road
tests vehicles as well as doing some occasional driving. Very little of
that is at the weekend as he only comes into the workshop when required.
He keeps a diary. At interview, there was a discussion about the need
to record such times and as explained to him that even if he was acting
as a mechanic doing the garage duties, he had to put it all on his
record. It was also explained to him that if he meets an enforcement
officer on the road it would look as though he had done very little
time, when in fact he might have had a very long day. He said he
understood that.

143. The more serious allegations in the Traffic Examiner’s report

were allegations that on 26 February and 18 February he had engaged in
ghost driving allowing his name to be used by Mr Kevin Maund on
26tFebruary and by Mr Andy McLeish on 18 March. On 26 February, driver
Mr Maund uplifted a load from Nuneaton to deliver to Tesco at
Livingston. Mr Maund’s chart ends at Harthill at 21:40 and the next
record sheet is in Mr McLanachan’s name for a journey from there to
Kilsyth. The Tesco paperwork shows the vehicle arriving at Tesco during
the time covered by Mr McLanachan’s chart yet the driver name at Tesco
has been recorded as Mallnd, which the Examiners found to be more like
Maund than McLanachan. Asked where the evidence was that Mr McLanachan
had not actually driven the vehicle that night, the Examiners founded on
the paperwork from Tesco Livingston and the statement from Tesco that
the driver fills in the registration number and copies. So their view,
according to Tesco, was Mr Maund who did the delivery. They were
relying on a statement from the Tesco shift manager that the
documentation was accurate. They produced the goods in note. That gave
the driver’s name on it as Mallnd which they assumed was a mis-type.

144. In cross examination, paperwork of June 2009 from Tesco was shown
to the Examiner and where the driver name was not recorded. The
Examiners’ understanding was that Tesco changed their system and now
only record the haulier name. At interview, Mr Maund could not recall
what had happened. At interview Mr McLanachan said that he drove the
vehicle. Mr McLanachan reckoned that Mr Maund must have been in the
vehicle with him. The Examiner narrated the procedures at Tesco,
including that the driver has to fill in a form but these forms are not
kept. Thus, Tesco could not supply any sheet in which Mr Maund had
filled in.

145. In relation to the allegation of 18 March, it was that driver Mr

Andy McLeish brought the vehicle up to Abington from Poole. The next
sheet is from Abington to Kilsyth and is in the name of Mr Chris
McLanachan. Tesco Livingston had paperwork showing that vehicle with
them at the times on the record sheet in Mr McLanachan’s name, with
the driver’s name on the Tesco paperwork recorded as McLeish. The
Examiners were of the view that Mr McLanachan’s name had been used to
disguise that Mr McLeish had not taken sufficient daily rest. That, in
their view, was why Mr McLeish’s name was not on the chart. Mr
McLanachan said that he did drive the vehicle. They were fortified in
this view by Mr McLeish’s name being on the Tesco paperwork. The
statement from Mr Milne of Tesco was that the paperwork was accurate and
that is what they went by. They did not know if Tesco ever checked the
identity of drivers. They were going by the statement from the Tesco
shift manager.

146. For 29 March, a tachograph sheet record shows, in their opinion, a

tachograph clock wind back in that the distance traces do not match up
and the header has been opened.

Mr Christopher McLanachan’s evidence

147. Mr Christopher McLanachan (36) has a clean driving licence and has
held the vocational entitlement since November 1994. He is a time
served mechanic who has worked abroad. He has worked with the company
since 2002 looking after the vehicles and servicing and maintenance with
occasionally some driving duties and a management role in the workshop.
He has no responsibility for the routing of drivers. He has a CPC.
How much he drives depends on how busy the transport side is and he will
take a vehicle to service, drop a trailer, take a vehicle to a load, it
varies and is always local. In relation to recording duty time in the
garage or in the car, he simply was not aware he had t. He had been at
a tachograph course with the RHA some years previously but did not
recall that being covered. There was no way he would deliberately
falsify his records. He is now aware and records the time.

148. In relation to the chart for 26/27 February, it was his chart and
not Mr Kevin Maunds. In relation to the paperwork at Tesco, he had
never completed such a sheet and had never seen one. In the few times
he had been there, he would get to the gatehouse, speak to the intercom,
be told to come in and park up and bring paperwork in. The lorry would
be locked and he would walk to the goods in office and would hand in the
paperwork and would get a bay either right away or get a call. He had
not been asked his name in Tesco. You just said it is a delivery from
Dairy Crest. Asked why Tesco would have the name Mallnd. He said that
they would have the Dairy Crest paperwork which would have the
driver’s name, the trailer number and registration number with all
the vehicle information stapled to it.

149. In response to the allegation of 18 March, it was his chart and he

was driving the vehicle, not Mr McLeish. Again, the load was from Dairy
Crest going to Tesco Livingston and Tesco would have got the name
McLeish from the Dairy Crest delivery note. Mr McLeish had been
driving the lorry immediately before and had brought the load up to
Abington. He, Mr Chris McLanachan, took the load from Abingdon to
Kilsyth.

150. For the chart of 29 March, he denied interfering and winding back
the clock and I asked how he could explain the overlap, he said it could
be to do with changing the clocks but it was early to do it but that was
the only explanation he could think of. There was nothing he needed to
cover up. The drivers were responsible for adjusting the clock at the
change in the hours. That was a Polish driver and may be he was doing
it for him and thinking ahead. He denied that his name was used as a
name for ghosting.

Closing submissions for Mr C McLanachan

151. Of the 12 alleged false charts, 12 were for duty time or journeys
to and from vehicles. Mr McLanachan did collect vehicles for
changeovers on a regular basis. These 12 records were false only
because duty time was not recorded. He now realises that he should do
that. He does not except that these were deliberate falsifications.
His CPC was passed prior to the Skills Coaches decision.

152. He refutes the allegations of ghosting. There is no suggestion

that Tesco checks drivers’ identities and, to take away a driver’s
livelihood on the basis of what was recorded as the driver’s name at
Tesco, would not be sufficient. For Tesco, the times and customer are
definitely important but the driver’s name is not so. They now have
a system whereby the driver’s name is not on it. Little or no weight
should be given to the evidence from Tesco. VOSA have no way of knowing
how accurate Tesco records are.

153. He cannot recall what happened on 29 March and it might be a

change of clocks. There is no admission beyond that. He is a mechanic
and maybe he would wind back the clock for a legitimate reason. I was
told that there was no deliberate falsification and asked not to suspend
or restrict for any period.

MR WAYNE ALLEN - DRIVER NO: ALLEN 612175 WA9EV

154. Mr Allen has a goods vehicle speeding conviction in 2006 -

3points; and a mobile phone conviction of June 2007 - 3 points. He also
appeared at a Public Inquiry/driver conduct hearing in November 2003
(decision within the call up letter) and had his entitlement suspended
for one week.

Traffic examiner evidence

155. The Traffic Examiners looked at 29 tachograph record sheets for Mr

Allen and interviewed him in November 2008. During this period, he was
driving NK05CYH in the UK and also across to the continent. They found
a range of matters of significant concern to them and raised these with
him in the interview.

156. The first chart examined took him to Coupar Angus from Swindon on
27/28 March and he himself has noted an excess of the daily driving
period and annotated his chart as 20 minutes over, unable to find
parking. The Examiners were not happy with that as they felt he could
have finished the journey earlier, for example, at the services at
Perth. They were not alleging any missing mileage or anything otherwise
improper.

157. For 28/29 February, they were considering a journey from Coupar
Angus to Crayford. There was a load to be taken from Grampian Foods,
Coupar Angus to Asda Erith and this journey and the deliveries were not
recorded on the driver’s tachograph record. The vehicle leaves Asda
Erith and the record sheet is removed from the head at 13:40. At that
point, Mr Allen had only taken 6.20 hours rest and he had annotated on
the reverse of the sheet 2.35 hours over duty due to delays and
unloading at Asda. The vehicle was sighted (according to information
received from the Examiners) by an ANPR reader on the A282 South near
Dartford. The next load was to be uplifted from Tate & Lyle at
Silvertown, in London. Tate and Lyle records have the vehicle in at
16:45hrs. Yet the chart came out at 13:40 and there was an end
destination of Crayford. The end odometer for 28/29 February
corresponds with the start odometer for 29 February/1 March, yet in the
Traffic Examiners’ view the journey and duty in between had not been
recorded. The distance traces match up which would indicate the vehicle
had not moved. In the Traffic Examiners’ conclusion this meant that
the tachograph recording equipment had been interfered with in some way
or a fuse pulled. The most daily rest taken by Mr Allen was 3.15hrs.
In cross examination, it was put to the Examiners that the Tate & Lyle
Silvertown destination and Erith were all in the area of South East
London and that the problem was that Mr Allen had made a mistake in
recording Crayford as the end destination. It was Mr Allen’s position
that Asda Erith from 13:25 to 13:40 was the journey to Tate & Lyle. If
that was the case it would not be a false record. The Traffic Examiner
did not know the exact location of these places but made the comment
that if it was the Erith to Silvertown journey, it would still have
encroached on his daily rest and there were no indications of shunting
movements. It was put to them that one possibility was that the trailer
was loaded and unloaded by someone else and they did not know. The Tate
& Lyle records showed the vehicle in at 16:45 and there was also the
sighting on the A282 at 15:31. The Examiners also noted that he put on
his chart that he was held up unloading at Asda. At interview, he
denied being under any pressure. He could not understand how Tate &
Lyle had 16:45 on the ticket. The next chart concerned 29 February/1
March recorded as a journey from Crayforth to Larkhall fortifying the
Examiners in the belief that his previous end destination and therefore
start destination was Silvertown and not Crayford, they link it to a
fuel receipt at London Gateway at 00:17hrs. Using Autoroute Silvertown
to there is 38km which accorded with the record sheet whereas Crayford
was 57km. The Examiners regarded this as a false record in that the
start location was not Crayford but Silvertown. At interview, Mr Allen
explained the use of Crayford as being because “London” could not be
used as a destination and he did not know the other parts of London very
well.

158. The next chart of interest was a journey of 3 March completed as

Portsmouth to Poullaouen. The recordings end at 19:30 but there are
loading documents for the next day at 8:30 (7:30 UK) not recorded. They
considered that his driving and duty time at Poullaouen had not been
recorded. The Examiners’ understanding of the operating hours at
Poullaouen was that it was only operated between 04.00 to 12.00 hours.
Mr Allen explained that you could go into Poullaouen and drivers were
allowed to park on the bay, so there were no gates stopping him going in
or out, no one there to unload at point of arrival but the unloading
would have been done in the morning and that the vehicle had not been
moving anywhere, that it was just sitting on the bay so there was
nothing on the chart to record. The driver opens the back doors and
backs onto the bay and just leaves it. He explained in the interview
that this happens at quite a few places in France.

159. On 4 March, the record sheet is from Poullaouen to Caen and they
considered that to be false because the recordings did not start until
13:55, yet there was a loading document at 8:30 (7:30 UK) and they cited
their understanding of the operating hours at Poullaouen. The next load
to be uplifted was from Ardo, Gourin which Autoroute showed as 30km.
That journey was recorded between 13:55 and 15:05. They considered that
duty time at Poullaouen, making the delivery and washing the trailer,
had not been recorded. The Examiners could not comment on Mr Allen
saying that he did not wash the trailer at Poullaouen. At interview, he
explained that there were various places where the trailer could be
washed out. He had also explained to the Examiners that Poullaouen was
massive. In cross examination it emerged that the chart should have
read from Poullaouen to Portsmouth including a ferry crossing and the
9km in Portsmouth.

160. On 5 March, he goes from Caen to Milton Keynes. His next record
sheet for Milton Keynes to Livingston starts at 3:50am. The distance
traces do not match up with 12km not being recorded. Culina at Milton
Keynes have him delivering there and departing at 2:30am. The Examiners
were of the view that the chart was a false record in that the odometer
readings were given as consecutive as if the vehicle had not moved,
whereas in fact it had.

161. For 10 March, the sheet is Bothwell to Newcastle with no record of

duty time from home to Bothwell. He was going to Newcastle for the
ferry to Ijmuiden, there is no record of the vehicle moving off the
ferry and the end destination should have been Ijmuiden. He had not
known to do that. He had a VOSA book and acknowledged that he had
overlooked that provision and the company had not picked it up and told
him about it. It was not deliberate on his part but an accident. He
lives in Crieff and it would be 40 minutes to get down to Kilsyth. He
admitted that he had made a mistake in not putting a chart back in to
move off the boat. Thus, he had not recorded all of his true
driving/duty time.

162. For 12 March, the chart was given as Hemsbuende to Calais with no
delivery duty time at Hemsbuende. He then goes to Dissen between 7:35
and 10:10. He is then due, according to McLanachan traffic sheets, to
go to Corby. There is Euro Tunnel paperwork for Calais to Folkestone
and this is recorded on the record sheet. He then travels a further
28km. The chart is false in that the destination is given as Calais
whereas in fact he ended the day in Kent where he changed a trailer. He
has annotated the reverse of his chart with “over on driving duty due
to operation stack and long delays ???at Euro Tunnel.” He came off
the ferry at 6:35 and continued to drive. The most rest taken would be
6.10hrs. The Examiners took a strong view of the lack of rest and
considered he had shown a total disregard of the rules and road safety.

163. The chart for the next day, 13 March, was started at Calais to
Ferrybridge and so was false as by then the driver was in Kent. The
Traffic Examiners were not aware of any advice not to park at Calais and
accept that it was probably right for him to annotate on the rear of the
chart that he had arrived in England and parked in a safe place. But he
had reduced his daily rest.

164. 15/16 March is a journey Roissy to Wisbech with a load to go to

TNT at Northampton. The Examiners had paperwork for his times at TNT.
CEVA paperwork has the vehicle there at times not recorded on the record
sheet. Mr Allen considered that it was the CEVA paperwork that was the
anomaly. He thought he had two pick ups from CEVA. He had to go
somewhere else for the load. They had obtained further paperwork from
CEVA. They were not aware the load had not been ready.

165. The chart for 17 March is a journey Wisbech to Bellshill and the
Traffic Examiners had CEVA paperwork showing that the vehicle went in at
7:17 and out at 7:57. They considered that if CEVA paperwork was
accurate, it would mean that Mr Allen had insufficient weekly rest.

166. For the chart of 18 March, he recorded the end destination as

Portsmouth when it should have been Ouistreham.

167. For the chart of 19 March, it was given as Portsmouth to Roscoff

whereas he was at Roscoff. He failed to take sufficient daily rest and
annotated on the reverse 35 minutes over duty hours mis-calculated
driver error.

168. For the chart of 20 March, two records have been completed, one
for Roscoff to Roscoff 1km moving onto the ferry. The second journey is
Roscoff to Kirby Hill after ferry disembarkation. The start location
should be Plymouth. The way that he has recorded it detracted from his
having sufficient daily rest.

169. For 24 March, the journey is Kilsyth to Portsmouth and he actually

went on the ferry to Ouistreham and so the end destination should have
been Ouistreham given a vehicle movement of f the ferry at Ouistreham.

170. On 25 March, the journey is Portsmouth to Saint Germain d’Arce

when the start location should have been Saint Germain d’Arce. For
25/26 March the end destination should have been Newhaven not Dieppe
given the ferry sailing.

171. For 26/27 March, the recordings should be Newhaven to Halton not
Dieppe as the recordings only start from Newhaven.

172. For the period 10 to 21 March, Mr Allen had not taken sufficient
weekly rest, the longest period being 19:30 hours.

Mr Wayne Allen’s evidence

173. Mr Allen is 43 and has held an LGV entitlement since 1994 and has
worked for McLanachan’s for over 1½ years, so had not been that long
with McLanachans at the time of the investigation. He enjoys the work
very much, particularly the international. He had been at a driver
conduct hearing in 2003 in respect of driving time and rest and breaks.
At the time of working for McLanachans, he was confident he was
complying. He had taken time to read and keep himself up to date. He
has since had a tachograph course with McLanachans. His speeding
conviction came from a lapse of concentration when on the A1. He was
aware that he should not use a mobile phone whilst driving. The
circumstances were that his ear piece had broken so he put the caller to
speaker and had the phone in his hand, with both hands on the steering
wheel. He was using it like he would a CB. He thought he was in
compliance and pled guilty.

174. He was aware that VOSA were alleging 18 false records by him.

175. For 27/28 March, of driving of more than 10 hours, he accepted

that he should have stopped earlier but carried on to get somewhere to
eat.

176. For 28/29 March, Silvertown, Erith and Crayford are all quite
close in South East London. He did not have a detailed map of London.
He was aware he could not just enter London. The allegation that he had
been at Tate & Lyle and done that work of the card, he can only think
that he dropped the trailer off outside and it was collected by a
shunter and that he did not take it in. This trailer would have had the
registration number on the back so that would be how they got the
registration number on the weigh bridge ticket. There were delays in
unloading at Erith which he had marked on his chart. It is not possible
to park in Asda. There used to be parking but no longer. He was not
under any pressure to get his destination. The fuelling that has been
noted would have been where he parked up at London Gateway.

177. For 3 March, the procedure at Poullaouen was that there is no

closed gate or barrier and he would drive in and if no one was there he
would open the doors and back in and leave the paperwork. They would
tip the trailer and he could stay there until it was his time to go.
When they unloaded the trailer he would be in his bed. At Poullaouen
there is a normal hose but at Gourin there is a steam cleaner, which is
better.

178. He realised that his charts for the ferry were wrong and it was
not a falsification as he had been led to believe that you put down
where you started your rest i.e. on the boat. This was the first time
it had been brought to his attention. He got that understanding from
other drivers when he started driving on the continent.

179. He did not accept the times that the Examiners had from Culina for
the journey from Milton Keynes to Livingston. As far as he was
concerned the vehicle had not been moved, at any time, without a
tachograph. He would have had plenty of time to do the journey and to
take time off.

180. He was not aware that he had to record his duty time on the back
of the chart or when he went to collect a vehicle. He had not been
pulled up for that before. He drove in his own car to meet the truck at
Bothwell on 10 March and his car was taken back to the yard.

181. On 10 March, there was a problem with the vehicle at Ijmuiden and
he had to contact McLanachans to get them to sort out the brakes that
had seized on the trailer. Chris McLanachan arranged breakdown recovery
to fit a new brake chamber.

182. He arrived the night before to Hemsbuende and again parked the
vehicle so it could be tipped in the morning. It was electrical goods
part of the Amazon load. He played no part in the delivery. He
collected the paperwork when he was ready to go, the same as at
Poullaouen. The paperwork is left at the back of the trailer. Thus,
there is no duty which had to be recorded. He came back via Calais and
stopped at Ashford as being the nearest safe parking after the train and
noted it on his card. Operation stack was causing long queues. He
disagreed with VOSA’s conclusion that he had a disregard of public
safety. He had been kept over his hours in queues which he could not
avoid. He got the vehicle parked as safely as he could.

183. For 15 March, he parked up outside CEVA. There are no other

recordings until 17 March. He had parked for a 24 hour break. He then
went in and was told where the load was. He could not explain
differences in times. He had been meant to collect from CEVA direct but
had to in fact collect it from a depot. He did not do anything wrong.
He had admitted mistakes. The consequence of his loss of livelihood
would be severe to him. He has not been as up to date as he should have
been. He has had recent training and now knows where he has been going
wrong. He found the interview with VOSA helpful. He knew that there
would be direct action against his licence but asked that it kept to a
minimum. He was the wage earner. The way he was keeping himself up to
date was by word of mouth and if he was not sure he would now ask VOSA.

Closing submissions for Mr Wayne Allen

184. In 2003, there were no allegations of false records. He has not

knowingly made any false records and he has done nothing intentionally
to deceive. He felt that when embarking on the ferry that was the start
of rest and that was the end destination. He is updated now and there
will be no repetition. He was aware that there had to be annotations if
you went above driving time and had made two annotations. In London he
was aware that he had to enter a district of London. He put in the
wrong district but there was a strive to be accurate. He believed that
someone else must have done the tipping at Tate & Lyle. The procedure
at Poullaouen was that the trailer could sit on the bay and the driver
could take daily rest while the vehicle was parked there. There was no
evidence that he had been washing the trailer at Poullaouen. He had
been candid. His evidence of there being a fault with the trailer on 11
March has now been confirmed.

185. The 15, 16, 17 Wisbech debacle was because he was sent to get a
load there and it was not there and he took his weekly rest. There is
insufficient evidence against Mr Allen’s conduct. There was no
corroboration of how accurate records from other companies were. He
was a conscientious and diligent worker who wanted to help his employer
and not sit back and wait for the note to be delivered to Wisbech but
had used his initiative.

186. He has penalty points on his licence, including for mobile phone
use and understands that direct action will be taken. It could be
distinguished slightly in that he could use his CB radio and was using
his mobile akin to that. It was submitted that the matters against Mr
Allen were not as severe as might have first of been thought at a
reading of the case against him. I was asked to stop short of
revocation and to limit any suspension.

MR JAMES PRESTON - DRIVER NO: PREST 410093 JM7DN

187. Mr Preston has three convictions - 2 for speeding in 2006 and one
for a contravention of Special Roads Regulations in 2008, attracting 3
points each.

Traffic examiner evidence

188. 24 tachograph records were examined for Mr Preston. He declined to

be interviewed saying that Mr McLanachan had been good to him. The
Examiners found 12 records which they considered to be false.

189. For 6/7 March there was a fuelling which was not recorded on the
chart. The chart for 7/8 March was consecutive yet the fuelling had not
been shown nor the journey to the service station. The Examiners
considered that some sort of interruption or device had been used. There
was no record of the driver’s duty time going back to the operating
centre or home. If Mr Preston went to Scania there must have been some
sort of interference.

190. For journeys on 10 March; 11/12 March; 20/21 March; 25/26 March;
26/27 March; 27/28 March; and 28/29 March there were no records of his
driving either to/from the vehicle ie duty/travel time was not
recorded.

191. There are 2km missing between the charts of 18/19 March and 19/20
March where the distance traces to not match up.

192. In respect of chart from 24/25 March, information from TNT

Northampton suggested that there was no record of the vehicle entering
Northampton. On cross examination, it was put to the Examiners that
they only had the TNT paperwork to go by and no guarantee as to its
accuracy. They had been told that 90% was accurate. They denied that
Mr Preston’s chart showed him having plenty of rest.

Mr James Preston’s evidence

193. Mr Preston is 65 and has been a HGV driver for 30 years and it is
his livelihood. He started with McLanachans about 5 or 6 years
previously. He retired at Christmas 2008 but sometimes gets a phone
call from Mr McLanachan and does the odd run. He has a speeding
conviction from May 2006 which was in a HGV and was a lapse of
concentration. He appreciated the importance of speed limits. The
other speeding conviction in July 2006 was in a motor car which was new
to him. He misjudged the power of the vehicle. A conviction of October
2008 was for driving in the third lane of the motorway coming up to
roadworks and he misjudged the lane arrangements.

194. He attended at the interview but did not appreciate until he got
there that it was formal and would be on tape so he was afraid he would
make mistakes so exercised his right not to answer. He wanted to be
able to think about it and had not realised it was so serious. He did
not want to make mistakes which he could not retract.

195. I asked about specific charts. He produced his truck driver’s

handbook produced by Ford Trucks and it was published in 1985 (retained
as a production to the hearing). He relied on this little book and
looked it up at all times. In his view, it gave him an exemption to
check repairs. The unit he was driving was an old unit and the wiring
was dodgy and old and he was getting warning lights from time to time
and the bulbs blowing. He would phone and they would say take it to
Scania, which he did. He explained it to a friend of his and he did
not want to put in a tachograph chart as it would be wasted as he only
got 6 tachograph charts a week. His friend says there was an exemption
for repairs and there it was in his book. It said it did not need a
tachograph. In the early hours of the 7 March he had a problem with
his lorry. He did not have any paperwork from Scania as it was not
worth the paperwork for bulbs and such. He fitted them himself. He
arrived at 3:20am and rested to midday then he drove to Scania which was
maybe 2-3 miles away. He put fuel in at the Shell garage on the way
back as it was very expensive on the motorway. So, he rested from 3:20
to midday. He went to Scania for 10-15 minutes. Then he went back to
TNT which took approximately half an hour to 40 minutes which took him
back there at 1pm and he did nothing else for the remainder of the day.
He considered himself to be covered by an exemption that vehicles could
be tested for repair and maintenance on local roads. He believed he was
complying with the rules and regulations.

196. For his chart of 10/11 March a journey from Paisley to

Northampton, he collected the lorry at Linwood and did not record his
journey from home to Linwood as he did not know he had to. He knew
there was a case involving a coach driver picking up a coach from a
different town but he did not think that applied to him. He did not
record time from home to yard at Kilsyth. He may have gone to Kilsyth
and been driven to Linwood. Asked by his agent about the going from the
yard to Linwood and recording that, he said that he had not been
driving. He had nothing to hide. He had left at 9pm which was very
late as there was a delay and he arrived before 5am. Then he made up
his next tacho. He could be at TNT for 18 hours. For example, on his
chart for 11/12 March, he arrived at Northampton approximately 5am but
did not leave until 11:30. In between he did nothing except check his
lights and his walk round checks and was ready for the road at night.

197. He could not understand how there were 2km missing between 18 and
19 March. Probably someone else shunted the vehicle. He had not
checked to see if his chart checked with the odometer reading. He did
not record his journey to Boswell as he did not record any journeys that
he had done to pick up the vehicle. It was the same in all cases. In
response to the Traffic Examiner’s reliance on TNT log for 25 March
2008 which showed his vehicle going in at 5:50, which was a movement not
shown on his chart, he denied that he had been working off the chart and
drew attention to the fact that between 1:45 and 5:50 there was nothing
on the TNT log whereas that was a very big international office and
there would have been more vehicles going in. He had no reason to be
there at 5:50.

198. He wants to hold onto his licence and would comply with any
training. No one had ever pulled him up on any problems. He had never
had any problems at the roadside and would hate his career to end in
this way. He had no reason to deliberate falsify. He thought he was
doing things correctly. He had been on a tachograph course with
McLanachans about a month previously. Prior to being with McLanachans,
his job had been in the Post Office for 25 years. Jamie would ask him
to hand in his charts if he forgot to hand them in. When he was at TNT
he would leave the trailer there on the loading bay and would not see
the trailer again until midnight. He would just sit doing nothing. He
would not take the unit for fuel but would take it to Scania if there
was something up.

Closing submissions for Mr James Preston

199. Mr Preston had given an account of the convictions.

200. The VOSA Examiners had looked at 18 records and 7 matters

concerned him not recording the journey to and from home to base. Mr
Preston had striven to be compliant and whilst he had been aware of the
rule applying to coach drivers, he had not realised that it applied to
him. He was not wilfully turning a blind eye to the rules and
regulations. The guide he had was the best he had but even though it
was out of date. He should get some credit for having his guide and,
had he been directed, he would be compliant. He was not working on an
arduous route. He had to spend a half day in Northampton. He disputes
the TNT record. In respect of the 2 missing kilometres, what he had
done was to complete the next day’s chart. He had not checked to see
if anyone had moved the vehicle and the obvious explanation is that
someone moved the vehicle in the yard.

201. I was invited to take no action against him.

MR JAMES BLACKWOOD - DRIVER NO: BLACK 806124 JG9ZK

Traffic examiner evidence

202. The Traffic Examiners had 20 tachograph sheets and 2 driver card
records and 6 weekly clock cards to assist them in their investigation.
They also interviewed Mr Blackwood. In respect of charts for 28 and 29
February, 7, 8, 11, 12, 18 & 19 March, they found that he had not
recorded duty time. Mr Blackwood is a mechanic with McLanachans and
clocks in and out and thus they knew from his weekly clock cards what
his working day was for and for what he was paid. Yet his tachograph
charts only recorded driving time.

203. A chart for a journey to Coupar Angus of 20 March was not

produced. Mr Blackwood told the Examiners that he would have handed his
chart into the office. For the period 17 to 28 March, the Examiners
found that he had taken insufficient weekly rest. On 26 March, he had
used a Dutch registered vehicle using his driver digital card. This was
a vehicle belonging to Mr Brady and Chris McLanachan in his evidence
said that McLanachans got a loan of that vehicle while one of their own
vehicles was broken down.

204. However, the matters of most serious concern to the Examiners

concerned their conclusion that on 13 March he had not recorded his duty
time but also that his name had been used to cover for driving by driver
Mr Roman Beeger. The Traffic Examiners had a chart for Mr Blackwood
for the morning of 13 March and they also had his clock card for that
day which showed him starting at 8:07 and finishing at 18:08. Yet,
there was a chart completed by him for a journey that night which
started at Bellshill and went to Hamilton at 22:00hrs. The odometer
readings are consecutive with Mr Beeger and consistent with Mr Colin
Craw’s next journey. The start location and end destination for the
record sheet in the name of Mr Blackwood were not consecutive with the
ones on either side. The Traffic Examiners were of the view that the
chart was completed by Mr Blackwood to obscure that Mr Beeger continued
to drive and thereby failed to take sufficient daily rest. That is that
Mr Blackwood was the ghost driver. Thus, the allegation against Mr
Blackwood was that he made a false record by completing his details on a
record sheet that had the recordings for Mr Beeger to disguise the
insufficient daily rest and exceeding daily driving done by Mr Beeger.
There was no record of Mr Blackwood being paid for this journey.

205. Their next concern was a chart for 14 March from 22:02 Carlisle to
02:54 Kilsyth when he had clocked in at 8:09 and clocked out at 18:12.
Travelling time before 22:02 to Carlisle have not been marked anywhere.
The chart previous to Mr Blackwood’s chart was for driver Rafal
Gorecki on a journey from Caen to Carlisle. Paperwork for Tesco’s
shows his vehicle at Livingston between 00:16hrs and 01:01. These times
are on a tachograph record sheet in name of Mr Blackwood. The Traffic
Examiners concluded that the journey had been done by Mr Gorecki and the
chart completed by Mr Blackwood i.e. giving his name as a ghost name.
This would disguise that Mr Gorecki would have failed to take sufficient
daily rest and would have exceeded the daily driving limit having - rest
only 5 hours and driving 11.04 hours.

206. At the interview, Mr Blackwood confirmed that he did his time

sheet and did not get any overnight substance money. His time sheet
would give his start and finish and any overtime payments, including any
driving hours. He would give his charts to Jamie McLanachan. He rarely
delivered anything; he was usually just picking up vehicles or taking
units for inspection. At the interview, he said he would never have
written a card out and not have done the journey. He had not been paid
for these journeys. The Traffic Examiners observed that there were very
quick changeovers, if indeed the journeys had been done by different
drivers. The Traffic Examiners considered that he had completed the
centerfield details but did not do the journeys. In so doing, he had
made a mistake with the start and end locations. It was put to the
Traffic Examiners that they had no evidence to support their view that
Mr Blackwood had not driven. Their conclusion derived from the hours
on his clock card and that he had not been paid for the extra hours.
They did not accept that he drove the lorry and that the chart was
accurate. The start and finish should marry in. It was possible that
he did the driving but they did not believe it.

207. Information at Tescos showed the driver as being “ROWUN” which

they took to be nearer in name to Rafal than Blackwood. If he was there
it should have been filled in as Blackwood. The information had come
from Tesco but they could not say how accurate it was. It was possible
that he did drive the vehicle but they did not think he did. It was put
to the Traffic Examiner that at page 30 of the interview, Mr Blackwood
said that he had driven and gave a good account. Mr Blackwood was
cooperative at the interview.
Mr James Blackwood’s evidence

208. Mr Blackwood is aged 25 and has a clean ordinary driving licence

and has held his LGV entitlement since December 2006, having obtained it
to enhance his job prospects and to assist with him being a time served
mechanic. He has been with McLanachans for 6 years and they put him
through his licence. His duties are as a general fitter and everything
mechanical and he is based in the yard at Kilsyth. Part of his duties
involve driving which he does about twice per week, for example, road
testing, taking vehicles to annual test and also picking up trucks to
come back to the yard. Usually it is not far away that is within about
30/40 minutes to Bellshill, Livingston, Norfolkline Larkhall. He had
not had training in drivers’ hours until recently. Previously, he had
learned from speaking to drivers. He was not aware in relation to the
allegations that have been made against him that he had to do manual
entries for duty time. No one had ever picked him up on that. He had
not deliberately sought to make any false record. He is now recording
all of his duty on the back of the chart.

209. In relation to the charts where the Traffic Examiners allege

ghosting, he acknowledged that these two charts were his and written by
him. He definitely did the driving. He would not have done the work
and not get paid. There were two charts because he was in two different
trucks. He thought that is what had to be done. He admitted that the
chart for SF04PFN commencing 22:00 was wrong in that he got mixed up but
he definitely drove back to Kilsyth.

210. For the chart of 14 March, again that was definitely his chart and
he went into Tesco. He remembered that it was out of the norm for him
to go as far as to Carlisle. The procedure at Tesco Livingston was that
there was an intercom system and he said what the load was and they
would get you to go in to the goods in office and the paperwork would be
taken to the office. Sometimes they would ask who you were and
sometimes not. He had sometimes filled in paperwork such as that shown
at production 92 and other times he had not. It was his evidence that
he done that driving to Tesco Livingston. He knew now that he had
committed at weekly rest offence by not taking into account the duty
time as a mechanic but he did not know that then.

211. Everything is compliant now. He would not fill in a blank card as

he knows how bad that is and that it was illegal and he had never done
anything illegal in his life. He had not been aware of the duty time.

212. His working hours were usually 8am to 6pm that is day work not
night shift. The alleged ghost driving took place at 10pm and he
explained that sometimes he would get a phone call and if he was not
doing anything he would do the pick up of the truck. He lives in
Kilsyth and would get to the vehicle in a company van. He would just
walk down to get the van and pull the gate open and the van keys would
be in the wheel. So he would take the van to the truck and then the
driver would take the van. He would get any blank charts from the
truck. He also has a folder which he sometimes has with him.

213. He did not remember getting back to Kilsyth at 2am because it was
a long time ago. He would have been paid the same rate. It would have
gone through with his wages to the bank. He would amend his clock card
to say what work he had done. At night, the office would be closed so
he could not have got back in and would just have put a note in at the
end of the week.

214. Asked by me why there were drivers’ hours regulations, he

acknowledged that it was for the health and safety of himself and other
users, so I asked him why he thought it safe to drive down to Carlisle
to bring the truck back and he said that he would not say it was safe
but he said that he was fit enough to do it. He usually goes to bed at
1am anyway. It was not the case that he was given the chart in the
morning and asked to put his name on it. He would not do that. None of
the bosses had asked him to. It was not in his nature to break the law.

Closing submissions for Mr James Blackwood

215. I was invited find Mr Blackwood a credible and compelling witness.

Many of the false records were him not recording his working time as
he did not know but is now aware. No one had pulled him up for it
before. The charts were for him doing changeovers. The allegation of
ghosting is refuted. He has explained that it was mistake in noting the
end point on the 13 March but that was not deliberate. VOSA have a
complete record as they have the follow on chart which gives credibility
to his position. His wages depend on hours and he said he would have
handed in a note. VOSA do not accept that he was possibly at
Livingston but he had been able to give a full account of what happens
at Tesco Livingston as he had been there. There are occasions when
Tesco require driver details and some when they do not. It was only
supposition and innuendo on the part of VOSA that he had put false
details on these charts.
216. The weekly rest offending is accepted. He had done the driving
because he had felt able to do it and was called upon to do it and there
had not been any adverse consequences for other road users. He is now
aware of the rules and is a keen learner who wants to make the best of
himself. I was invited not to suspend or revoke his entitlement.

MR DAMIAN MCLANACHAN - DRIVER NO: MCLAN 707038 D99DS

Traffic examiner evidence

217. The Traffic Examiners examined 12 charts for Mr Damien McLanachan.

For those of 28 February, 1 & 2 March, 6 March, 11 March, 17 & 18
March, his failure to record duty time made for a false record.
Particular charts caused them particular difficulty. For 25 February,
there was a chart for Mr Colin Craw going between Spalding and Falkirk
finishing at 20:50. The next chart of 26 February, from Falkirk to
Kilsyth was in Mr Damien McLanachan’s name from 6:00 to 8:30am. Asda
had the vehicle in and out between 6:00 and 7:30am with a driver
“Foster” named. Yet, the operator has no driver called
“Foster”. There was no chart for Mr Craw leaving Asda. Mr
Damien McLanachan said that Mr Craw may have been with him as a
passenger. Both, Damien McLanachan and Mr Craw, said that the gatehouse
could not spell. The Traffic Examiners’ suspicion was that Damien
McLanachan was a ghost driver, which is that his name had been used.
The Traffic Examiners had been told by Asda Falkirk that paperwork is
completed with the driver’s name by the Asda gatehouse staff. Their
own checks showed drivers’ names checking out in more than 90% of
cases. They had visited Asda and seen their procedures and had asked
them about foot passengers and had been told that the driver had to sign
a disclaimer in relation to the third party passenger that he would be
responsible for the passenger. They could not produce such paperwork
for the Inquiry as such paperwork was destroyed by Asda after 6 months.
They had been told that there were times when drivers brought passengers
in the cab but mostly that was in foreign vehicles. The driver would be
the person who would have to give details to the gatehouse. The Traffic
Examiners were relying on the statement of Asda’s Mr Currie.
According to Asda, the vehicle went in with driver “Foster”. Mr
Damien McLanachan told the Traffic Examiners throughout that he did the
driving. It was put to the Traffic Examiners that Mr Craw gave a false
name. The Traffic Examiners preferred the evidence of Asda over the
driver. For the journey of 1 March from Ipswich to Gretna in the name
of Kevin Maund, which ended at 13:18 and was followed by a chart from
Gretna to Kilsyth starting at 13:25 in Damien McLanachan’s name, the
Traffic Examiners again suspected this to be ghost driving. Asda
Falkirk had the name of driver Maund entering between 15:24 and 16:05.
Mr McLanachan said that Mr Maund’s name being there might be that he
had still been with him when he Damien was driving or else the gatehouse
took the name of the paperwork.

218. For 1 - 2 March, there was a chart for S Weselski from Portsmouth
to Hamilton and a chart from Hamilton to Kilsyth in the name of Damien
McLanachan. Tesco have a Dimin coming in between 22:43 and 23:22.
There is no duty record for Mr Damien McLanachan.

219. For 17 - 18 March, a journey from Bellshill to Dunfermline

(Somerfield), the driver is Z Csiznadia. Somerfield record driver
Zortan in at 8:56 and out at 9:58. Damien McLanachan’s chart starts
at Dunfermline to Kilsyth at 9:42, that is before Zortan exits at 9:58.
There was two minutes between removal of the charts and the odometer and
distance trace did not add up. The Traffic Examiners consider this to
be ghost driving and were fortified in their view by evidence from
Somerfield that changeovers were not allowed within their premises.
They had asked about drivers not trailers. If Mr Paterson of
Somerfield was wrong or confused in the evidence he gave, then the
driver was doing nothing wrong.

220. There would a risk for a RDC in allowing someone to go in. If

there was a changeover outside the fence, it would be between the two
drivers. Drivers hand keys in so there would be an issue about someone
driving off a loading bay. That is why there are set procedures about
keys.

Mr Damian McLanachan’s evidence

221. I record here that at the reconvened hearing on 5 October, Mr

McLanachan would have heard much of the proceeding evidence. He
produced on his laptop a recording from his mobile phone which he said
recorded his entry on foot to the RDC at Falkirk, which he sought to use
to counter VOSA’s assertions that persons could not walk in
unaccompanied to a RDC and affect a changeover with a driver who had run
out of time. I listened to this but I would have to record here that
the quality was not at all good.
222. Mr Damien McLanachan has a clean ordinary driving licence. He
has held his vocational entitlement since he was 21 and is now 31. He
is a time served mechanic and has also worked abroad in Holland, Germany
and Australia. He returned in 2005 and started working with his father
then. His job is to float between the office and the workshop. He was
helping Jamie with the transport doing a bit of driving but the majority
of his time was in the workshop. He did not schedule drivers. He is
not a Director or shareholder of the company. He would hope to be
involved in the succession to the business and for him and his brother
to take over the business and he mentioned his father’s 60th birthday
of November 8 2009. He was committed to the success of the business
and took instructions from his father. He has the highest regard for
safety and drivers’ hours. Since the VOSA investigation, driver
training has been given and drivers are getting warnings written and
final. He has started to be involved in that. The training they had
received was helpful and drivers have been able to quote the training
back to VOSA.

223. He drove the vehicle on 26 February and 1 March. He had no idea

how the name of “Foster” came to be on the paperwork on 26 February.
He had tried to take a video to show that not all was done at the
gatehouse, not all the Ts crossed. The way it happens is not how they
say. He could not say what happened on that occasion. He has gone
into RDCs with someone in the cab with him, including friends. No one
else has signed the paperwork. As to why Mr Maund’s name was on the
Asda gatehouse record, he could not remember but it was likely that Mr
Maund was in the vehicle with him and stayed on in the truck as he was
good company.

224. For 18 March at Somerfield Pitreavie, he did not see what the big
deal was there as you could walk into the RDCs. A driver could walk
in; there would be a handing over of keys and walking out. He does
changeovers as and when but they are getting few and far between now.
He had not recorded his journey time as he was not aware that he had to
do it. He now shows that he should have. He records it now.

225. It was his position that he had done no ghost driving.

Closing submissions for Mr Damian McLanachan

226. Mr McLanachan has a clean ordinary driving licence. The VOSA

analysis of his 9 charts related to 3 RDCs. VOSA officers were
presenting the RDC evidence but it did not mean that, because Mr
Paterson of Somerfield said something that was what actually happened.
There was a question of sufficiency of evidence in this case. Mr
Damien McLanachan asserts his charts to be his records. He has shown
that it is possible to walk in to a RDC. It was a common thread from
drivers in the case that you can go in and undertake driver changeover
within a RDC. Mr McLanachan did do the changeovers. Not only was there
evidence of the RDC changeovers but there were other changeovers that he
did. He was interviewed and gave an account under caution which he
reiterated at the Public Inquiry and he was consistent. He had not
known that he had to record the time to and from the vehicle. He has
now adapted to VOSA advice. The 6 were not deliberate falsifications.
I was asked not to suspend or restrict his licence.
MR MATTHEW MCLANACHAN - DRIVER NO: MCLAN 411089 MH8HX

Traffic examiner evidence

227. The Traffic Examiner in relation to Mr Matthew McLanachan as a

driver (as distinct from in any operator capacity) was of them looking
at 11 of his charts and noting that on 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 24, 27, 28 and
29 March, he undertook driving duties but did not record his duty time
before or after the period of driving and further that on 10 March he
used two charts for the same day, neither of them showing any duty
time.

228. He has one speeding conviction on 2 August 2007 for which he was
fined £60 with 3 points.

229. The Traffic Examiners could not say if he had been in breach of
the drivers’ hours rules because of his duty not being recorded, they
could not tell. At interview, he had said that he was unaware of the
requirement for this to be recorded and commented that it was “a weird
law”. [At page 33 of the interview Examiner Mrs Hill narrates what
has to be marked on the back of the card in relation to duty time. The
interview continues. “MM It is a weird law that. EH Well that weird
laws has been out for a long, long time. MM Aye I know.”]

230. In relation to his chart of 5 March which showed a journey of

Kilsyth to Larkhall, no duty recorded before 13:25, they did not know
when he started his work that day. They did not know when he started or
when he finished.

231. On 10 March, he had driven a different vehicle.

232. The Traffic Examiner accepted that there was an error on 29 March
when he left the chart in the head until the following day when it was
removed by driver West.

Mr Matthew McLanachan’s evidence in relation to his driving

233. Mr McLanachan has held his entitlement for 38 years and only uses
it to pick up trucks and trailers from loadings/unloading and back to
the yard i.e. changeovers. His speeding conviction was from his
private motor car and he has had nothing since. He had not been aware
that when he went to pick up a vehicle and bring it back or do a
changeover that he had to record travelling to and from as duty time.
He had not intended to make any false record. VOSA had all of his
charts relating to his driving in the HGV. As boss he does not check in
nor are his hours fixed and he does not keep a record of his hours.
Thus, he had to ask the Traffic Examiners if he really needed to record
his hours and responded that it was “a weird law”.

234. On 10 March, he had been driving two vehicles and thus had used
two separate charts. So many of the charts go abroad where they look
for all the charts and so it was better he felt to have a separate
chart. On 29 March, he had finished in Kilsyth and forgot to take the
chart out and Scott West had to remove it. It was an oversight on his
part. He wanted to retain his licence for flexibility and to be
available if drivers’ time was up. He denied that his response “aye
I know” to the Traffic Examiner meant that he knew the law in relation
to duty time, it was just an off the cuff remark. He accepted that VOSA
did not know what time he started, for example, if it was 8am or 1pm.
He had nothing to hide. He had plenty of time to do his work and to go
on short journeys and do changeovers.

Closing submissions for Mr Matthew McLanachan - see operator

submissions

FURTHER TRAFFIC EXAMINER EVIDENCE IN RELATION TO THE OPERATOR

235. The Traffic Examiners examined the charts for a number of drivers
who were not called to the Inquiry/hearings because they were not
resident in Scotland or because they did not hold a UK licence. Very
little by way of oral evidence was given in relation to these drivers,
with the evidence being within the Inquiry brief and productions. I have
had regard to it all though little of it was the subject of cross
examination of the Examiners.

236. Marius Rudnik does not hold a UK driver licence but was
interviewed. The Examiners found 2 instances where he had not taken his
breaks; 2 instances of insufficient rest; 1 of failing to take weekly
rest; and on at least 3 instances his failure to record duty time meant
that his records were false. At interview his English was not great but
he told of a problem with one of his trucks which for3/4 weeks had been
without a card as the tachograph was broken (though this was not within
the period of investigation.) He said there was only one occasion when
Jamie McLanachan had timed the work with too little time, when the speed
limiter had been lowered.

237. George Barnes no longer holds the entitlement and so was not
called. He was interviewed about 28 of his charts, the focus being the
failure to record duty time and V traces not matching up. He was doing
night trunking work down to Northampton on a regular basis, a salaried
full time driver. He admitted that he did move the vehicle on occasions
to park up though some movements could have been done by a shunter. He
had plenty of time for rest.

238. Kevin Maund could not be called to this Inquiry/hearings as his is

a Manchester address. At interview he stated that he stayed in hotels
when up at Kilsyth. The Public Inquiry brief disclosed that the Traffic
Examiners looked at 36 records for him and he was interviewed. The
Examiners found insufficient rest taken on 25/26 February; for 26
February it was their conclusion that Christopher McLanachan’s name
had been put on a chart for 26/27 February from Harthill to Kilsyth to
disguise that in doing a delivery into Tesco Livingston to disguise that
Mr Maund would have insufficient weekly rest (see the section of this
decision relative to Mr Christopher McLanachan). For 28/29 February the
tachograph head had been opened and the sheet removed. A delivery to an
army base at Sutton Heath was not recorded. On 29 September a delivery
to Sutton Heath was not recorded. On 1 March he did a journey Ipswich -
Gretna with the next sheet being in name of Damian McLanachan but ASDA
Falkirk showing the name Maund. The Examiners considered Mr Damian
McLanachan’s chart to be a ghost chart to cover up for Mr Maund
running out of time - insufficient daily rest and daily driving
exceeded.
239. On 12 March, he was at Terracina and 7kms were missing. At
interview he admitted moving the vehicle without a chart in. The
distance traces do not match up in relation to his next chart for 14/15
March from Terracina. On 17/18 March he is on a journey Evesham to Lille
and the Examiners found from looking at loads, Eurotunnel paperwork and
that the tachograph head was opened that he created a false record and
failed to have sufficient daily rest and false destination given. He
said this was a genuine mistake. The chart for 18/19 March is a false
record - 20kms not recorded. For 21 March the Examiners found
insufficient weekly rest despite Mr Maund marking the reverse of his
chart as 45 off when he only took 44.10. For 21/22 March their detailed
examination of his journey found the head opened and no recordings, some
sort of power interruption, a winding back of the clock and a full
journey to Schipol not recorded. If a true record had been kept it was
their view that he had only rest of 4.55 hours and he had driven for
18.40 hours. The next day’s record was also false. A journey on 24/25
from Chaumont to Genoa was a false record - they were able to use
considerable documentation to check timings, they found the head had
been opened and the clock wound back. There were missing kms and they
found that he would have had insufficient daily rest and the daily
driving period would have been exceeded - driven for 17.10 hours. Mr
Maund made no comment on this at interview.

240. Mr Swavek Weselski is a Polish driver and the Examiners had 28 of

his charts and interviewed him as they considered that 6 of his records
were false. (I have read the interview and his English appears to be
very poor and I would hesitate to give weight to his answers or
understanding.) For 4 charts he has not recorded how he got to or from
the vehicle. There is a lot of confusion surrounding the accuracy of a
chart for 24 March being a delivery to Coupar Angus, duty time not
shown. On 21 March he moved his vehicle without a chart. At interview he
appeared to say that he got to his vehicle in cars or buses provided by
McLanachans or his own car.

241. Mr Zoltan Csizmadia is Hungarian and does not hold a UK driving

licence. He has been a lorry driver for 22 years. The Examiners had 21
of his charts and 11 days digital data. They had concerns and
interviewed him. He had been employed by McLanachans since December 2007
doing continental work. The Examiners found 8 instances of insufficient
daily rest; 2 of insufficient weekly rest; 4 of exceeding daily driving;
2 break offences; all as demonstrated by the records. They also 3
alleged false records. One of these on 24 March was not showing the
journey to Bellshill and then numerous movements around the time of
getting off the ferry which intruded into rest and daily driving
exceeded. The Examiners considered that he did a journey on 17/18 March
and that Mr Damian McLanachan’s name had been used to cover it i.e.
ghosting. I deal with this in the section of this decision on Mr Damian
McLanachan (at interview Mr Csizmadia remembered Damian coming to
Pitreavie Somerfield). He did a journey on 30/31 March recorded as
Bruchsal to Folkestone with the chart actually removed at Calais and the
next journey is by driver Lazlo Nagy employed by the operator yet Mr
Nagy’s vehicle is sighted at Morrisons Bellshill and the Examiners
have him on a journey that day Preston to Bellshill. At interview Mr
Csizmadia began to say that Mr Nagy was with him but on the
Preston/Bellshill information being put to him, there is a change in the
interview and he appears to get upset at the amount of work/overtime he
is to do.

242. Mr Darius Gawron is Polish and does hold a UK licence. He had been
working for McLanachans for 4 years. The Examiners had digital data
downloads for him. They interviewed him. They found 7 false records with
him failing to record duty/drive time during the day not just to get to
the vehicle with him withdrawing his card; affecting rest and exceeding
daily driving time.

243. Other drivers whose charts were considered by the Examiners but
who were no longer McLanachan employees and not interviewed were as
follows. All of the Examiners findings/queries were discussed with the
operator.

244. Mr Anthony Wrigglesworth - allegations of numerous false records

including allegations of winding back the clock; of speed traces showing
zero to top speed when that impossible; insufficient rest; journeys not
recorded; failing to keep a record of ferry crossings; mileage not
recorded; one allegation of ghosting at Rosyth - this deriving from the
Examiners’ understanding of who does what at Rosyth; fuelling off the
chart; interference with the tachograph or fuse pulled - that is
multiple breaches of the drivers hours and tachograph rules.

245. Mr Andrew Thomas McLeish - address unknown to the Examiners - for

him there were 8 charts and 1 day of digital data. The Examiners found
instances of exceeding the daily driving limit on 13/14 March; excessive
speed and no deceleration and false record made when ferry crossing;
failure to record true record of driving duty on 16 March on journey
Portsmouth/Caen; 16/17 March and again 23 March excessive speed; 22
March failure to take proper break; 28/29 March insufficient daily rest
so false record made; 29/30 March insufficient daily rest and exceeding
daily driving. Of particular concern to the Examiners was Mr McLeish’s
driving/duty on 17/18 March when they considered that Mr Chris
McLanachan’s name had been used to cover driving by Mr McLeish when
the latter had run out of time. I deal with that in the section of this
decision relating to Mr Chris McLanachan.

246. Mr William John Falconer was not interviewed but he spoke with
Examiners on the telephone. There were 4 records for him and 3 digital
downloads. The Examiners found 1 break offence; 2 daily rest offences
and one false record in that movement between charts was not recorded on
27/28 March.

247. Mr Mark Canavan - there were 2 charts one relating to 15 March at

Rosyth when the Examiners considered that Mr Canavan’s name had been
used to cover Mr Anthony Wrigglesworth - this is based on the Examiners
understanding of Rosyth port arrangements. McLanachan and ASDA paperwork
show Mr Canavan on a journey on 29 March in SF 04 TVJ yet no charts have
been produced for that day.

248. Mr Laslo Nagy - 16 charts and 3 digital downloads - the Examiners

found 3 instances of insufficient daily rest; 1 of exceeding daily
driving limit; 1 false record - 9kms not recorded; and then there is
the use of his name on a chart from Folkestone to Nuneaton on 31 March
when there is a chart and Morrisons Bellshill records showing him
delivering there on 30/31 March - see above in relation to Zoltan
Csizmadia.
249. Mr Rafal Gorecki - 17 charts for him and 3 instances of failing to
take sufficient rest and also a false record for 14/15 March when the
Examiners considered that Mr James Blackwood’s name had been used to
cover for Mr Gorecki - see above in relation to Mr James Blackwood.

250. Mr Pitor Pawel Rzeniecki - 20 charts for him - numerous false

records with the Examiners unable to establish a clear picture of his
duty/drive time, numerous instances of the head being opened and the
chart taken out; no recording of getting to and from vehicle when away
from base; insufficient daily and weekly rest offences and perhaps
more.

251. Mr Radoslaw Pysklo - 23 charts with numerous false records;

insufficient daily rest; movements off the chart; failing to record duty
time to/from vehicle.

252. Mr Roman Beeger - 27 charts - 2 break offences; one false record

in not keeping record of duty time on 28/29 February when he flew to
Budapest to hand deliver a TNT parcel; similarly on 2/3 March and so
insufficient weekly rest; one failing to take sufficient daily rest; 2
false records in not showing full driving/duty time and so insufficient
daily rest.

253. Mr Ryszard Niemcsyk - 27 charts - no record of duty time in going

to or from the vehicle - the Examiners could not assess the extent of
his driving time.

254. Mr Hristo Dimitrov Pangarov - 29 charts - 6 false records most

suggestive of driving off the chart; driving off the chart. No recording
of duty time on 9 March when duties included flying to Amsterdam and
Lisbon with package - insufficient weekly rest; on 19 March insufficient
daily rest; exceeding daily driving limit; break offence.

255. Mr William Wilson Paterson - 2 charts - not recording duty time to

collect vehicle at Bellshill and one break offence.

256. Mr Colin David Nicoll - 1 chart - not recording duty time to

collect vehicle at Bothwell.

257. The Examiners interviewed Mr Jamie McLanachan, Mr Matthew

McLanachan’s brother given his role in the company as the day to day
scheduler of the drivers’ work and had worked for the company for 10
years. He had received the analogue charts but did not deal with digital
data. The drivers were to hand their charts back to him. Asked if he
checked them to see if compliant with drivers’ hours rules he
responded “the drivers aren’t allowed to run bent anyway in any way,
so they are usually okay..” He gives them instructions by phone and
satellite or text. He doesn’t calculate their hours, he relies on the
drivers to tell him how much hours they have got, and if they are
running out of time they phone to say they are not going to make it and
he says to park up. He gave instances of customers and their gates not
caring if a driver had to park up, that was the real world; sometimes
they just had to sit for 24 hours to wait to tip. He thought the job was
all up in the air because of all the nonsense of the “boy has moved a
minute”; they were trying to keep totally legal all the time. They
have to put guys out to tip trailers because the driver has run out of
time. That’s why they do changeovers with fish; they do changeovers
all the time. They have worked for a long time with TNT and if you phone
them to say a driver is held up it is not a problem. They have problems
getting loads re-booked when there are delays getting there or a driver
needs to park up. He gave his opinion of a movement when a driver just
moves a vehicle or trailer out of the way - not 10kms just a movement
and opined it to be so ****** stupid. Saying that they try to keep it as
neat as they can he said “As much as possible that is why we do
changeovers and that is why we do what we do that is why we are up
during the night making sure that guys are in a certain place.” He had
nothing to do with the digital data - that is for Damien.

258. The Examiners set out in their brief (p145 et seq) the details of
missing kms (14,372 and for SJ 03 GFP) and of digital cards not being
used/not being downloaded. They had a very lengthy interview with the
operator in the person of Mr Matthew McLanachan putting to him the
allegations of false records, fuse pulling, winding back of the clock,
drivers’ hours offences, ghost names. He could give no explanation and
said that no driver had been asked to do other than allowed by law. He
said he knew of the “weird law” that is Skills Coaches but
disregarded it especially in relation to Rosyth Ferry crossings and at
Larkhall when it did not suit. He provided the information in an e mail
from Superfast’s Mr Turnball which was at odds with Mr Marshall of
Rosyth’s information. He told the Examiners that Jamie did the
scheduling using satellite and auto-route. He had not asked casual
workers if they had other employers e.g. Mr McFarlane who worked for
Asda. It was clear that there had been no checking of drivers’ cards
or the download data from the vehicle units as downloading was not
happening. They had no software to look at the digital cards.

EVIDENCE FOR THE OPERATOR (including in response to my questions)

259. Mr Matthew McLanachan (and for “he” I mean the operator in the
person of Mr Matthew McLanachan) gave evidence in relation to
maintenance on the first day of the Public Inquiry. At that time, the
number of vehicles specified was 14 with 16 trailers. Of those 14, 5
were inspected by Scania at Bellshill and the remaining 9 and 16
trailers by their own staff. They had 3 mechanics, that is his brother
Christopher McLanachan, son Damien McLanachan and Mr James Blackwood.
By the last day of the Public Inquiry, the level of vehicles specified
had risen to 17 with 22 trailers and I expressly queried with Mr
McLanachan whether this rise in number of vehicles specified had been
done to anticipate that I might take regulatory action and therefore to
have a higher level of specification could be viewed as a device to
undermine any potential curtailment order. Mr McLanachan responded that
things had perked up a bit and they had required extra vehicles but were
getting quieter at the time. They had been doing some runs to
Czechoslovakia. The vehicles he had taken on were rented vehicles which
he just hired as and when he needed them. They are in plain livery.
The core of his fleet is approximately 12 but depending on business
requirements, can go to 14 and up to 17. He just hires in when he needs
the extra vehicles. Most of the trailers are owned by them or on hire
purchase to them. They have 25 employees.

260. They endeavour to keep the vehicles and trailers in a fit and
serviceable condition with inspections every 6 weeks. They now have a
roller brake tester which they installed in May 2009. Drivers have been
warned about the prohibitions given that many of these could have been
avoided if drivers had checked or had not had dream catchers or laptops
on the dashboard. Recent prohibitions for a cut tyre and brake disc
fracture and ISO cable were ones which were not ‘S’ marked and in
the case of the ISO cable, the driver had a cable.

261. He thought an inspection interval of 18 weeks was long but would

have to check their vehicles as they had some vehicles off road and one
had been in an accident. They now keep paper inspection records for
every 6 weeks. The drivers are doing nil defect reporting and there is
rectification. Vehicles inspected and maintained by Scania are put to
test by Scania. They present the ones that they maintain. They had 2
failures since August 2008. The speed limiter failures had been for a
kilometre out when at the test station. They have been endeavouring to
keep the fleet in proper condition and that was why they had spent money
on a brake tester.

262. Until this investigation he had had no feedback from VOSA from any
previous looking at charts. The VOSA evidence included that charts were
missing. He explained that they had problems downloading digital data
and he had accepted that at the interview. They now have a system. His
brother Jamie was the person in the business responsible for chasing up
charts and he is the person who schedules the drivers and whom drivers
contact. So much is delegated to Jamie. Drivers are paid a fixed salary
into the bank whether working in the UK or abroad. There is no incentive
or bonus to work longer. Jamie was responsible for the charts coming
back in and being filed with the vehicles. He was the Transport Manager
but he did not take a proactive role in checking and chasing charts and
he acknowledged that. He considered that drivers would be given
sufficient time to do their work and he had never asked drivers to do
anything illegal, they are not put under pressure. His time was spent
going out to see customers, some driving and general transport work
including cold calling. His wife’s deals with the bank and
administration but has no involvement in scheduling work.

263. Drivers going on the Ferry at Rosyth would go on as passengers and

not drive until Zeebrugge. He had not been aware that their journey from
home to Rosyth should have been recorded. He considered they were on
their break, on their rest. He did not choose to ignore the rules. They
took the drivers to Rosyth and the Rosyth stevedores drove the vehicles
on and he had an e mail from Mr Turnbull of Rosyth to support that.

264. He had not been aware that taking drivers by car or van to or from
changeovers required to be recorded as duty time. He did not instruct
drivers to move in and out of RDCs without recording their time. He had
never instructed tipping off the chart. There was no way he could have
known of it. The arrangements at gatehouses are not always what
companies say will happen. Drivers often do not have to give their names
and it is possible to go in to do a changeover i.e. walk in and drive
out.

265. The operator arranged for CCTS, a private training company to give
training on drivers hours and tachographs and produced certificates to
show the attendance of Messrs Miller, Priestley and Allen at a day
course on 2 April; Messrs C McLanachan, McFarlane, Blackwood, Craw on a
day course on 3 April, and Messrs Nicholson, J McLanachan at a day
course on 6 April 2009 and Messrs West M&D McLanachan and Preston at a
half day course on 2 June 2009. These courses clarified drivers’
understandings and included duty time. There had been a big improvement
but there were still infringements. Messrs J & M McLanachan, Stewart,
Maxwell, Kolodynski, Gawron and Steele had received FTA digisimulator
training in December 2008. The drivers’ conditions of service
stipulated “You will work within the EC Tachograph Rules and
Regulations. All charts must be posted by registered mail (this will be
refunded when receipt is handed in) or handed into the office at…Kilsyth
as soon as possible. The longest a driver would be away would be 3/4
weeks. He is now taking on responsibility for making sure charts are
back. A tachograph chart register is kept to track charts being
returned. Time sheets are kept and include a section requiring
declaration of any time worked for another employer and the times can be
used to check against the tachos and the duty times recorded on the
back. Investment has been made in in-house tachograph scanner and it is
being used as also the Touchdry system which he can run on his own
laptop. They have satellite tracking but with delay in getting the
updates. They are looking to see if there are better systems.

266. The operator uses the FTA to analyse drivers’ charts and to
report. The operator produced management summaries of these for the
period 29 December 2008 to 5 April 2009. On perusing these at the Public
Inquiry I noticed a significant number of infringements with very few of
the drivers compliant. This led to my asking to see the FTA analysis for
a more recent period and for the adjourned date of 5 October 2009 the
FTA had analysed charts for the period 6 April to 14 June 2009 with
management summary were produced. These disclosed numerous
infringements; excessive speeds with the query speed limiter fault;
instances of insufficient daily rest; breaks offending; apparent misuse
of the mode switch etc etc.

267. He fully accepts that VOSA found contraventions and that his
systems had not been good enough but he had taken steps to address that.
He was aware of the powers of the Traffic Commissioner. They are not
operating to capacity of their authorisation due to the economy and also
the VOSA investigation had done them no favours with others shying away
from them. The environment is very competitive though refrigerated work
is holding its own but any suspension of the licence would lead to him
closing it and revocation would also mean the end of the business with
problems for all the employees and his family.

268. He has been in transport all his life and his company’s operator
licence was revoked and disqualified for breaches of the drivers’
hours and tachograph rules so he knew from before the consequences of
not complying. He thought he had done enough but had not. He read the
trade press to keep up to date but did not like reading the reports of
what happens to those who do not comply and he seldom read the advice
pieces but more at the price of trucks and company profiles. He accepted
that the “buck” stops with him for not knowing about duty time. He
thought he was up to date but was not.

269. I put it to him that in not applying duty time e.g. in relation to
the Rosyth trips that he was self serving in his understanding of the
rules and he said he had not deliberately broken the rules. He explained
the number of speed limiter failings on the tolerances which come to
light only at annual test.
270. They had employed so many foreign drivers due to the shortage of
drivers and their willingness to work. A lot of them were not used to
applying the rules and many had to be let go. They were paid the same
rate as the British drivers. In the past they have used a 2nd man team
to take fresh fish down to Italy or Spain but that work has disappeared.
Drivers like to have their own trucks and they try to give the same
truck to the same driver. He gets on well with the customers and tries
to do a good job. They have lost work on price.

271. In that Derek Brady’s name had come up in the

Inquiry/investigation I asked Mr McLanachan about his relationship with
Mr Brady and he told me they worked from the same industrial estate, did
a bit of business, were not friends, but purely business with no
allegiances, and he was not a front for Mr Brady.

272. I asked him about Mr Blackwood and him being used after a day’s
work to drive. He had been available and willing and had asked for work,
and would take his girlfriend in the truck for a run. He took
responsibility for that and that he should have been concerned about him
being tired.

273. Mr Preston had been on training but had not picked up on the duty
time. He was a part time worker and that was his character. He will be
reminded.

CLOSING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE OPERATOR

274. In his evidence, Damien McLanachan had said he would be taking

over the business on his father’s 60th birthday that is on 8 November
2009. Mr Whiteford wished it to be stressed on the record that this was
a statement made in levity and that there were no immediate succession
plans in place.

275. The operator had all necessary maintenance facilities and had
purchased its own roller brake tester at a cost of £29,000. Inspections
are on a 6 weekly basis, with 5 vehicles going to Scania and the
remaining vehicles and trailers being maintained in house. There had
been no recent VOSA maintenance investigation and the Vehicle Examiner
report for this Inquiry had been based on paperwork and not on a site
visit. The Vehicle Examiner had found gaps of up to 10 weeks on the
inspection frequency and a lack of driver defect reports. The causes
of the immediate prohibitions were a fuel leak, stop light, stickers in
the windscreen and a laptop. It was not the worst maintenance record a
Traffic Commissioner would see. The annual test record has improved
over the previous year. If this was a Public Inquiry relating only to
maintenance, he submitted that a warning would be appropriate.

276. However, the bulk of the Public Inquiry covered tachographs and
drivers’ hours matters. Of 36 drivers, only 22 were interviewed and
the allegations were of 246 false records, 64 drivers' hours offences, 2
speeding offences, missing charts and failure to produce digital
records.

277. There were 8 drivers' hours prohibitions, 2 overloading

prohibitions, 2 hazchem prohibitions but none for false records. The
first conviction noted in the Public Inquiry brief was in 2004, that is
over 5 years previously and the last was an overloading conviction of
8th October 2007.

278. The VOSA investigation involved looking at the tachograph charts,

looking at RDC gate logs, ferry records, customer records and speaking
with the employees of the RDCs. This VOSA investigation was far more in
depth than any operator would do.

279. He took exception to the use of the term “false records” and
directed my attention to section 99ZE of the Transport Act 1968 which he
quoted. He submitted that there must be knowledge that the driver
knowingly made a false record or altered a record or interfered with it.
A large number of the charts in this case listed as false were in fact
failures to record duty to or from a vehicle and in relation to Messrs
Matthew, Christopher and Damien McLanachan and Mr Blackwood, related
also to duty time at Kilsyth in the office and in the workshop.
Neither the company nor the drivers knew that travelling to collect a
vehicle or back from a vehicle in a private car, should be recorded as
duty. There was no intent to cause a false record. There had to be a
distinction between winding back the clock or such other intention to
deceive. The allegations of ghost driving were totally denied by the
operator and drivers.

280. VOSA had made a great number of assumptions and had insufficient
evidence. Drivers Maund and McLeish, who are alleged to be true
drivers, had not been called to give evidence to say it was their charts
and not others. There was considerable doubt raised in the case about
the procedures at RDCs. There could be a difference between what VOSA
was told by employees of RDCs and what actually happened in practice. I
should not rely on statements of third party employees in the case of
revocation of either operator’s licence or driver licence. Had this
been a prosecution, witnesses would have been called and the standard of
evidence would be beyond reasonable doubt. The evidence of procedures
at Rosyth was contradictory - Mr Marshall/email Mr Turnbull. Evidence
from drivers was that the other parties’ stevedores and loaders put
vehicles on the ferry and if that was accepted, then there could not be
false records. VOSA had not been able to locate Mr Marshall for a
supplementary statement. There was an insufficiency of evidence.

281. The day to day work appears to have been scheduled by Mr Jamie
McLanachan, who issued instructions. That did not take away
responsibility of the Directors and Transport Manager, as it was for Mr
Matthew McLanachan to make sure the system worked. There was no control
over the return of charts and there was a failure to download digital
data through lack of knowledge. The company concedes that the systems
were not adequate and that the Transport Manager should have been
proactive. It was admitted that there has been failure to have adequate
systems and a breach of the undertakings and that would entitle me to
take action against the licence. However, there was no evidence of
deliberately breaking the rules. Drivers are paid a fixed wage and no
bonuses paid so there is no gain to drivers to break the rules.

282. I should take into account the steps the company took after the
VOSA investigation. They are now registering each chart returned.
Charts are analysed and monthly reports are received from the FTA. It
is clear that not everything is perfect and there are still problems
with drivers complying despite the training in April/June 2009. The
drivers have received a strongly worded memo that jobs are at risk and
also that there can be Fixed Penalties imposed up to £200. The economic
situation of the country is that there is not a shortage of drivers, so
there should be an incentive to drivers to comply with the rules and
reduce infringements. Matthew McLanachan has taken over sole
responsibility for the systems and is no longer relying on his brother
Christopher. The Tachomaster scanner is being used before the charts
are sent to the FTA. There is satellite tracking of the vehicles.
There is the touch drive driver computer program. The VOSA
investigation has given the company a real shake and the company is
paying much more attention. VOSA concluded that the work was not
scheduled to keep the drivers compliant but there was no evidence that
the work could not be done in the time allocated. Drivers Mr Priestley
and Mr Allen said there was plenty of time. In the driver interviews,
there was no evidence of any pressure on drivers to get the work done in
breach of the regulations. There was evidence of pressure from RDC
staff. There is no evidence of any instruction by the company Directors
or Transport Manager to carry out any illegal practices. The case was
lacking in any evidence of collusion between Directors and drivers.

283. Mr Matthew McLanachan’s driver licence entitlement was something

he wished to retain. He does not use it often but would like to have
it. He has one previous conviction for speeding in a private car. The
allegations of false records are all to do with failure to record duty
time going to or from vehicles and also failure to record duty time at
Kilsyth. All driving was recorded. There were no driver hours offences
and no intention to break the law.

284. 17 vehicles are currently specified and the operator employs 22

employees. At this point I interjected to ask why the number of vehicles
specified had gone up over the last six months and period of the Inquiry
as I was concerned this was done to undermine my curtailment powers. Mr
McLanachan explained that business had perked up and they had gone up to
18 vehicles but things are getting quieter again as there had been a
factory closure. The vehicles had been used; he had not simply rented
them to sit in the yard. They own 10/12 of the vehicles and most of
their trailers or have them on HP. The core fleet is 12 which cover the
main contracts.

285. Mr McLanachan accepts that there will be disciplinary action

against the licence. I was asked to draw back from suspension or
revocation as that would be catastrophic. There was no evidence against
the repute of Mrs Rose Ann McLanachan, whose role was a legal one and
administrative part time. She was not interviewed by VOSA. There was
no sufficiency of evidence against the good repute of the company or the
Directors. The question of good repute was an absolute and if answered
yes, would lead to the operator being put out of business. I was asked
to take a proportionate decision and to allow the company to continue
and to demonstrate using the assistance of the FTA, that the operator
and the drivers could become compliant.

CONSIDERATION OF THE EVIDENCE AND MY DECISIONS

286. In relation to the drivers, I record here that I am considering

their conduct in terms of Part IV of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and the
legal test therein of fitness by reason of their conduct with conduct
defined in section 121. In relation to the holder of a large goods
vehicle driver licence it is his conduct as a driver of a motor vehicle.
It is for me to make a determination and to be satisfied. If I am not
satisfied then I must determine whether the entitlement is revoked and
the driver disqualified or whether a period of suspension should be
required. Thus I am applying quite different legal tests to those which
I must regard in the operator case where the principal statute is the
Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995. I have available to me
the Senior Traffic Commissioner Practice Direction No 3 on Driver
Conduct effective from June 2008 where guidance is given.

287. In this case whilst there were a smattering of road traffic

offences what brought these drivers to a conjoined hearing with this
operator were the allegations of non compliance with the drivers hours
and tachograph laws - the road safety provisions set out in EEC
Regulation 3820/85 and now found in 561/2006 and the amended version of
3821/85 which sets the framework for preventing continuous driving and
which requires drivers to take breaks and have daily, weekly and
fortnightly rests. Again in this case whilst there were some breaks
issues the real crux of the case was the allegations that daily and
weekly rest provisions were not being observed and the real risks such
pose to road safety. Driver fatigue is well established as a material
factor in road traffic accidents and that means deaths and serious
injuries. The UK Parliament by the test set out in Part IV of the 1988
Act and the European Community through long established regulations have
recognised the dangers of driver fatigue and drivers and their employers
who do not heed the requirements to take breaks and rest and to
demonstrate by true recording that such have been taken face proceedings
such as these.

288. This was a major investigation by the VOSA Examiners and I commend
them for their perseverance and for the exemplary manner in which they
set out their findings. I also commend the agents for their respective
grasp of the case and I know that they appreciated that in recognition
of the preparation time they would need considerable advance notice was
given of the dates and productions. There were controversies within the
evidence which went beyond any given driver. There was the controversy
over the use of the term “false record” and whether that required
deliberate falsification (what in the criminal law would be called
“mens rea” that is intent to do something) and that I should
apply the criminal standard to such; there was controversy over the use
of Autoroute; and over the accuracy of RDC paperwork and gate records;
and over who boarded what when at Rosyth. A case like this needs much
reading and reflection not least because it is necessary to see the
drivers as individuals and to avoid inappropriate tarring with the same
brush. Indeed of all the tachograph and drivers' hours cases I have done
this one required most time.

289. I have had regard to the licence undertakings which read short are
to make proper arrangements so that: the rules on drivers’ hours and
tachographs are observed and proper records kept; motor vehicles and
trailers are not overloaded; vehicles operate within speed limits; motor
vehicles and trailers, including hired vehicles and trailers are kept
fit and serviceable; drivers to report defects promptly; records to be
kept for 15 months.
290. I have had regard inter alia to the undernoted case law:

Skills Motor Coaches Ltd v Denham [2001] AER (EC) 289

Priority Freight Ltd and Paul Williams TT Appeal 2009/225
Bryan Haulage (No 1) 2002/1
LE Jones Ltd and LE Jones International Ltd TT Appeal 2009/215

291. I make the following findings in relation to the operator,

directors and transport manager.

292. Mr Matthew McLanachan, with his wife Mrs Rose McLanachan, has been
professionally engaged in goods vehicle driving and operating for most
if not all of his adult life. They (in corporate form) held a goods
vehicle operator licence which was revoked with disqualification for one
year in 2000. The grounds for such action were breaches of the
drivers’ hours and tachograph rules. The current licence was
granted at Public Inquiry in 2003 with a “significant warning” as to
its future conduct.

293. In May 2008 VOSA Vehicle Examiners required the operator to

produce tachograph charts and digital downloads for the period 25
February to 30 March 2008. The operator was unable to produce all charts
for that period and had not been undertaking the downloading of digital
data. Much of what was required was produced but after reminders and
delays the operator failed to produce charts to cover in excess of 14000
kms and could not produce charts for one vehicle. Not all digital data
was produced. By so failing the operator breached the licence
undertakings.

294. The Traffic Examiners undertook a thorough and time consuming

investigation. They found a complete failure to record duty time to and
from the vehicle when not at base. Thus they could not establish for any
given driver whether full time, part time or based in workshop or office
the exact extent of the drivers’ working week and whether sufficient
rest had been taken.

295. Mr Matthew McLanachan is director, transport manager by

examination and holds large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement. I
find that he had an inkling that there was a ruling whereby duty time
had to be recorded - his answer “Aye I know” and his comments on the
“weird law” cause me to find that whilst he had not taken on board
the detail of the Skills judgment he knew that there was what I shall
terms as that complication. On best view he has not kept himself up to
date by his ignorance of the detail of what was required; on worst view
he deliberately has chosen to ignore the provision to the company’s
benefit and to the disadvantage of road safety and fair competition.

296. Until after the Examiners began their investigation there was no
system in place to check drivers charts or digital data. Mr Matthew
McLanachan delegated to his brother Jamie all matters in relation to the
scheduling of drivers and taking in their charts. He did not check the
charts. He at no time has engaged in downloading or looking at digital
data. There was no training of drivers and little checking of their
understanding of the rules.

297. The operator does effect change-overs for drivers whether heading
south or north using drivers or McLanachan cars/vans. Thought has been
given to change-over arrangements even though the arrangements
disregarded the requirement to factor in duty time. I give as an example
that drivers were driven to Rosyth and that on many occasions the unit
and trailer were driven on to the Superfast Ferry by a driver who was
not sailing or by a stevedore. There were occasions when the driver
sailing with the vehicle drove it on. In so finding, I am preferring the
evidence of the operator, drivers and e mail from Mr Turnball over the
description from Mr Marshall.

298. I do not find ghosting but I do find that the operator’s

workshop staff and in particular the family members Damian and Jamie
were used to change over with drivers and to keep those drivers with
them when doing the final leg of a delivery coming north and back to
Kilsyth. Such arrangements served to obscure that drivers had
insufficient daily and weekly rest but did reduce the amount of driving
time in the homecoming journey.

299. The prevalent failure to record duty time and to schedule the
drivers taking duty time into account gave a commercial advantage to the
operator and goes to fair competition.

300. I make findings in relation to individual drivers which

demonstrate that the operator’s drivers were in breach of the
drivers’ hours rules, some to a very dangerous extent. I have found
that drivers in the operator’s employment have interfered with the
tachograph recording equipment through the winding back of the clock,
the pulling of a fuse, speeding and tipping and fuelling off the card.
Having regard to the findings against the drivers called to the driver
conduct hearings and to the findings of the Traffic Examiners recorded
in their Public Inquiry brief of papers which I record at paragraphs 235
-256 it is apparent that within this company there were widespread
breaches of the drivers hours rules. I formed the view of the evidence
that in maximising the loads coming north the operator created a
pressure for its drivers who then drove in excess of their permitted
driving time. There was no evidence of any direct command to breach the
rules but that does not defeat the behavioural finding of a practical
pressure operating such that drivers took short cuts. The operator did
nothing to counter such behaviour which was self serving to the
operator. Breaches of the drivers’ hours rules pervaded this
operator’s operation in the period under investigation. The absence
of charts for at least 14,000kms prevents a true picture being
achieved.

301. The operator implemented training for drivers in 2009.

302. The operator hired the FTA to undertake analysis of drivers charts
and systems and software were purchased to ensure that drivers had
digital cards and that there was downloading of data. The FTA have been
providing management reports to the operator. These show a high level of
infringements. The operator has taken little by way of action to ensure
the levels of infringements have been reduced. This was confirmed by the
reports from the FTA available at my request at the last day of the
Public Inquiry. Thus as at the last day of the Public Inquiry the
operator was not able to demonstrate that compliance with the drivers
hours rules had been met or was within near reach.

303. The operator’s vehicles and trailers have attracted prohibitions

and the inspection frequency has elongated. Vehicles have failed at
annual test notably for speed limiter defects though I was unable to
tell if these were for minor calibration needs. The operator has
adequate facilities and has upgraded these to include a roller brake
tester. The operator likely could achieve compliance with the
undertakings relative to vehicle roadworthiness.

304. The operator’s drivers have attracted drivers hours prohibitions

and thus the operator had been on notice that all was not well with
drivers hours compliance. The operator’s vehicles have attracted
overloading prohibitions and a conviction which was not intimated to my
office.

305. It took me a while to work this case out. The Examiners rightly
had suspicions of ghosting going on but unlike other ghosting cases
there was no leachate in any of the interviews which whispered at
ghosting. I have come to the view that the clue lies in McLanachans’
use of the mechanics and the sons ie Christopher, Damian and James
Blackwood for these are the names used in the instances where ghosting
is suspected (covering for Maun, McLeish, Gorecki, Beeger all of whom
were running out of time as they headed north from several uplifts in
England). These day staff did not record their duty time though Mr
Blackwood clocked in and worked a 8-5 day.

306. On the positive side I found that Mr Matthew McLanachan had

co-operated to a considerable degree with the Examiners by producing
what they asked for to an extent; to assisting with setting up driver
interviews and in attending for interview himself. There was no
hostility or thrawnness towards the Examiners in the conduct of their
duties. The workshop has facilities and sufficient mechanics. With some
improvement and focus including ensuring that defect reporting and
frequencies of inspection are monitored this operator should be able to
secure roadworthiness though the incidence of prohibitions and failing
at annual test is not good.

307. The operator has invested in training of drivers and himself;

purchase of software and other systems to analyse tachographs and
digital data; and has recruited the FTA to analyse and report.

308. The drivers were paid a set wage and there was no evidence of any
financial incentives (other than staying in employment through the
operator keeping contracts) to individual drivers.

309. This operator cannot claim first time at Public Inquiry and
failing to understand the regulatory regime. The McLanachans have been
cast out before when their licence was revoked with a disqualification
and for analogous matters. They only got back in in 2003 but with a
significant warning from the Deputy Traffic Commissioner who granted
their application. Within 5 years ie 2008 when the Examiners
investigated and up to 2009 the operator has failed to meet the licence
undertakings in relation to drivers’ hours and the failings are not
marginal but significant.

310. I was asked to excuse the operator from failing to know about the
Skills case. I cannot do that. It is not a new provision. All of the
handbooks for operators/drivers; all the VOSA guides and the legal
advice pages of the trade press make it clear that duty time and driving
time and other work have to be recorded. But it is so very inconvenient
to do so on many occasions and often appears very counter to common
sense (the RDC behaviours) and to serving employer or customer well. It
is convenient and self serving to be out of date. A transport manager
has by law to be “effective” and an operator has to “make proper
arrangements” and this must include keeping up to date.

311. However, this case is not just about not knowing about duty time
to or from the vehicle. If that were all it was about it would not have
taken all this time and effort by either the Examiners or me trawling
through the evidence. It is about the 60 drivers’ hours offences and
the non duty time false records and the failure to produce charts and to
download data. The operator uses satellite and Autoroute - and I pause
here to record that I consider it quite acceptable for the Examiners to
use Autoroute as a working tool along with other evidence available to
them and given that it is a working tool used by the operator. With that
and satellite information the operator had the ability to know where the
vehicles were. However Jamie in the office doing the scheduling did not
look at the drivers charts and his interview suggested little sympathy
from his direction for the drivers’ hours regime.

312. I find that there have been these serious breaches of the licence
undertakings. I find that these are so serious as to go to repute of the
company, the directors and the transport manager. If I find against
repute I have to revoke and so I have to pose the questions - is this
case so serious that I have to put the operator out of business - and is
this operator capable of compliant operating in future? If the FTA
reports had been positive and for all practical purposes “clean” (or
as near thereto as from my wide experience of their reports being
presented at Public Inquiry in aid of operators I would reasonably and
practically expect) then I might have been able to answer the latter in
the affirmative as I could have done had this say been a maintenance
only case. Fair competition is of course at the forefront of my mind as
also road safety. There is the past history.

313. I have come to the decision that this is a case in which I have to
consider revocation. I have considered a period of suspension but was
told that would be the same effect - however the Act provides for
suspension as a regulatory option and an operator faced with the choice
of revocation or suspension most likely would prefer to have the chance
which a period of suspension would offer. It may put the operator out of
business and so be it if that happens for in many ways that does expose
the operator to competition and allows those who have been disadvantaged
by compliance to get into the operator’s market with a fair wind.
However and as an act of mercy (to use a word favoured by the Transport
Tribunal) I will hold back from revocation though with concern as to
righting the balance in favour of fair competition
314. So in this case I am decided that the proportionate decision after
doing all the balancing involved in just deciding against revocation is
to direct on a period of suspension of FOUR weeks during which time the
operator’s vehicles cannot be used on this or any other licence. Any
shorter period would not mark the seriousness of the degree of breaching
of the licence undertakings and the righting of fair competition. The
suspension will start at 23.59 on 6 June 2010. On the expiry of the
suspension the licence will be curtailed to 12 vehicles with trailer
authorisation unaffected. The 12 is the figure Mr McLanachan gave as his
core operating level and will stop expansion until Mr McLananchan and
his team get into fully compliant operating. The operator as a company,
Mr and Mrs McLanachan as Directors, and Mr Matthew McLanachan as
transport manager are all warned as to their repute. Mr Matthew
McLanachan in particular should be in no doubt but that his repute hangs
on a very, very shooglie nail indeed and that my decision is merciful.

315. In relation to the individual drivers I make the following

decisions and determinations.

316. Driver Mr John McFarlane - as aforementioned the decision in

relation to him was taken on 27 May.

Driver Mr David Stewart

317. As with many of the drivers in this case Mr Stewart did not record
his time in travelling to and from his vehicle when not at base. That
included when taking the Ferry from Rosyth to Zeebrugge. Having
listened to all the evidence in this case I am not persuaded that the
arrangements recorded in Mr Andrew Marshall of Superfast’s statement
prevailed on all occasions and I believe that on some occasions
stevedores would have taken vehicles and trailers on and on other
occasions these will have been driven on by drivers under the
supervision of Superfast or the terminal’s people. I am quite prepared
to believe that Mr Stewart could not remember the detail of what exactly
happened on 15/16 March but the failure to record duty time meant that
there was not a clear picture of Mr Stewart’s rest. I give him the
benefit of the doubt in relation to the load picked up at Ash Manor, the
cheese load. The interruption of minutes at the fruit market is a
technical offence and one where operator and customer will have to find
a way whereby the driver does not need to be disturbed. However there
are two clear instances when Mr Stewart has knowingly and badly
contravened the drivers hours rules and these were the journey to Tesco
Peterborough on the instructions of Jamie McLanachan which he did
without a chart and also the journeys involving the Panasonic load on
29/30 March when for part of the time he ran without a chart. He did
that to assist his employers. I have to take a dim view of such for
professional drivers need to take rest and the drivers hours rules are
health and safety provisions there to ensure that drivers are not
fatigued and also that they are not put under pressure to drive when
they should have time off. I find that Mr Stewart is not fit by reason
of his conduct and I determine that his entitlement will be suspended
for a period of SIX WEEKS with effect from 23.59 on 30 May 2010.

Driver Mr Brian Watkins

318. Mr Watkins was a casual driver for McLanachans and his part in
this whole case was a small one. As with others he did not record his
duty time and so there could not be a full picture. He was in full time
employment elsewhere and therein lays the more serious side to his
involvement in that he was not taking rest. His time sheets for 25
February to 3 March were examined along with such information as could
be taken from his tachographs and it was concluded that he had taken
insufficient daily rest and insufficient weekly rest. Drivers need rest.
Road safety needs rested drivers. I understand why additional earnings
are welcome but here I cannot be sympathetic to the extent to concluding
this with a warning. I determine that he is not fit by reason of his
conduct and that his entitlement will be suspended for a period of TWO
WEEKS with effect from 23.59 on 30 May 2010.

319. Summary: Mr Brian Watkins’ entitlement will be SUSPENDED for TWO

WEEKS from 23.59 on 30 May 2010.

Driver Mr Patrick John McIntyre

320. Mr McIntrye was a casual driver for McLanachans. Mr McIntyre had

his rest interrupted when in Germany - at interview he said it was
because he was told to go on a loading bay; at the hearing he said it
was on instructions of the police. At interview he told a story about a
long haired man, not one of the McLanachans, coming to Bellshill with
his car and that he had not unloaded. At the hearing he admitted that in
fact he had tipped off the chart after arriving at Bellshill in the
early morning and it was submitted he did that to help his employers. He
lied though to the Examiners - I do not consider it just a matter of the
passage of time affecting memory. All of this offending goes to road
safety in that he had insufficient rest. The interruption in Germany -
for whatever reason was for 4/5 minutes - and the driving at Bellshill
took place within an RDC. So I have heard worse. The point with him as
permeates this whole case is that the Examiners did not have a true
picture of what he was doing. I find that he is not fit by reason of his
conduct and I determine that his entitlement be suspended for ONE MONTH
with effect from 23.59 on 31 May 2010.

321. Summary: Mr Patrick John McIntyre’s entitlement will be

SUSPENDED for ONE MONTH from 23.59 on 31 May 2010.

Driver Mr Ian Stephen Roberts

322. Mr Roberts is a taxi driver who does occasional runs for

McLanachans picking up vehicles and doing short local runs. He had not
been recording duty time and then there was the query over 2 charts for
the same day. I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt in
relation to his explanation over these. He says he has got leaflets and
brought himself up to date. In his case I will conclude with a WARNING
to him that if he wants to continue as an HGV driver he must keep
himself fully informed of the requirements of the drivers’ hours
rules.

323. Summary: Mr Ian Stephen Roberts is WARNED as to his conduct.

Driver Mr Martin Flanagan

324. Mr Flanagan was with McLanachans for a short time. On an analogue

chart he wrote Kilsyth as his end destination rather than Bothwell as
Kilsyth was where his car was. Thus in an odd way he did record where
his duty would end i.e. Kilsyth but not his time. He admitted tipping
off the chart at Morrisons and that it was wrong. He was co-operative at
interview. I determine that he is not fit by reason of his conduct but
given his small involvement in this case and his straightforwardness I
will conclude matters in relation to him by determining that his
entitlement be SUSPENDED for ONE WEEK with effect from 23.59 on 30 May
2010.

325. Summary: Mr Martin Flanagan’s entitlement is SUSPENDED for ONE

WEEK from 23.59 on 30 May 2010.

Driver Mr Alexander Miller

326. Apart from the misunderstandings over the Scandinavian route and
which the Examiners accepted I find that the Examiners have detected in
Mr Miller a pattern of activities which was deliberately engaged in to
get round the drivers’ hours rules and to let him drive on at his
convenience. The activities, which except in one significant exception,
were admitted by Mr Miller included driving without a chart on many
occasions including doing so on the continent and taking his chances
with the French traffic police; winding back of the clock on many
occasions; and in so doing he failed to take sufficient daily rest and
he continued driving when he should not have. He compromised his weekly
rest. Like many drivers in this case he did not record duty time when he
should have. The point of controversy with him was whether he pulled the
fuse at all or on many occasions. The Examiners believe that he did do
such and were fortified in that view by no other explanation for the
marrying up of the traces. He denied such at interview and at the
Inquiry. He offered no alternative explanation to deflect the
Examiners’ suspicions. I have to take a view on this. I find that
on balance of probabilities that he did pull the fuse on some occasions
but that it was not his prevalent way of getting round the rules; he
took the less risky and much easier options of driving without a chart
and winding back the clock. He was quite comfortable doing such; playing
the innocent; and then almost genially admitting much of it or taking
refuge behind the passage of time and not being able to recall. A man
who has such disregard for the rules is a man who would know how to pull
a fuse. He knows how to be cute. The worst of his offending against the
rules was when on the long runs to Europe, that is when he most would
have needed rest and his wits about him when driving. He has imperilled
road safety. He realises his position is serious.

327. I find that Mr Miller is not fit by reason of his conduct to

continue to hold the entitlement or to have it renewed to him. The level
of false records here is significant and given that one day’s record
will knock into the next days does come to about 20. I determine that
the extent of the false records and the deliberate and repeated breaches
of the rules are such that the entitlement must be revoked and he be
disqualified. Having determined on revocation and disqualification I
have to put a period on the disqualification. Nothing short of 2 years
would be appropriate here; such is the seriousness of his behaviour. The
revocation and disqualification will come into effect at 23.59 on 8 May
2010. If this means that Mr Miller’s driving career is at and end then
so be it. It is a sad end to a long distance driving career which will
have had its adventures and delights in the service of road haulage and
making a living.

328. Summary: Mr Alexander Miller’s entitlement is REVOKED and he

disqualified for 2 years with effect from 23.59 on 8 May 2010.
Driver Mr Keith Nicholson

329. Mr Nicholson did not record all duty time. On two occasions he ran
over when looking for somewhere to park. He moved the vehicle without
recording it on his card. He has had pressure at RDCs, the “rock and
the hard place” pressure which is put on so many drivers at RDCs. He
was failing to have sufficient daily rest given spread over. He has
slipped into these behaviours which are challenging for drivers in terms
of getting work done whilst keeping on the right side of the drivers’
hours rules. He keeps a meticulous diary but even with that there were
some remaining queries about what he had done. I will WARN him as to his
conduct on this occasion but any recurrence will not be to his advantage
and he should be in no doubt.

330. Summary: Mr Keith Nicholson is WARNED as to his conduct.

Driver Mr Scott West

331. The investigation covered the very first month of Mr West being
with McLanachans and his very first Continental trip. The crux of
matters concerning the Examiners was the failure to record duty time.
They did not allege that he had driven the vehicle on to the Ferry or
that he had driven it to Rosyth. Their whole thrust was that duty time
had not been recorded and then there was the question mark over the
distance trace and speed at the other end. There were two missing charts
including one after the disastrous night at Lochinver but Mr West said
he had handed them in. Fortunately for him this is not a case in which
missing charts greatly feature and there is no other evidence to suggest
that he was not trying to adhere to the rules. Thus I am prepared to
accept, as I think the Examiners also accepted, that he likely did hand
the charts back. He should have known about duty time but did not and
his employers did nothing to correct his ignorance. I have some sympathy
for him in the journey on the Ferry being his first and his having to
copy the practice of others. I am glad that he has a healthy
apprehension of the French police and so does not follow the ways of Mr
Miller. I am content that this case can be concluded by my warning him
as to his fitness.

332. Summary: Mr Scott West is WARNED as to his fitness.

Driver Mr John Craw

333. That so many of Mr Craw’s charts are missing is frustrating for

it leaves a whiff of suspicion wafting around him particularly given his
previous appearance at a hearing and his suspension. The missing charts
reflect on the operator’s systems and I will deal with that in the
operator case. I can see why the Examiners probed his charts given the
appearance of the name “Foster”. The circumstances were the sort
which in other cases has revealed “ghosting” by the main drivers to
finish deliveries and get home. Thus the suspicion that Damien’s name
and the name “Foster” were used to hide Mr Craw driving beyond his
hours. However in this case I am not persuaded that there is sufficient
evidence, circumstantial or direct, to allow me to make an adverse
finding against either Mr Craw or Mr Damien McLanachan save that duty
time in leaving and getting to the vehicle was not recorded by either
and so there is not a true picture of their hours.

334. It is accepted by him now that he had insufficient rest in the

period 12-14 March. He knew what his previous day involved. He knew he
was engaged in this early morning driving. He knows that he had to pay
attention and keep up to date with drivers' hours rules. He claimed he
was ignorant of the duty provisions. With much frustration given that
the missing charts mean that I do not have a good picture of Mr Craw’s
compliance (good or otherwise) I do determine that his fitness has been
affected by his not taking daily rest and by not recording duty time but
I cannot find that this is a case in which I can do other than mark that
by determining that his entitlement be suspended for TWO WEEKS with
effect from 23.59 on Sunday 23 May 2010. Had this been his first time
before me I might have been more lenient. It will be very difficult to
show any further leniency should Mr Craw appear at a driver conduct
hearing again with adverse matters found.

335. Summary: Mr John Craw’s entitlement will be SUSPENDED for TWO

WEEKS from 23.59 on Sunday 23 May 2010.

Driver Mr Alistair Priestley

336. Mr Priestley patently did not realise that whilst the card was
out, the vehicle unit still told a story and thereby he has been caught
out. He did not record duty time and says he did not know he had to.
However whether analogue or digital he did know he had to record driving
and other work and that he had to take rest. I am in no doubt that the
taking out of the card assisted him in stretching his days and reducing
his rest, in his mind. He knew he was out of hours at Cumbernauld and
gave the false name Smyth, a device he has used elsewhere and which
frankly as I told him serves to cast more suspicion. I wondered if his
behaviour was because these runs to the continent which he was doing
should have been double manned and thus the operator had to be looked
at. The Examiners thought not. Fortunately for Mr Priestley the
Examiners did not find the names Smyth or M Ouse on any tachograph
charts. The driver’s card has saved him from that. I find that he is
not fit by reason of his conduct in that he has not made a true record
of his work, all as found by the Examiners. Having so determined I also
determine that I do not find this to be a revocation case or
disqualification though that would have been very different if Smyth or
Mickey had been used on any analogue chart. A lesson from this evidence
for McLanachans is that they must have someone on duty 24 hours to
assist drivers at RDCs.

337. Taking rest is essential to safe driving. Mr Priestley disclosed

in his evidence that he had health problems including blood pressure. He
is still a big man and he will have to be very watchful as to fatigue.
By not being meticulous about daily and weekly rest he has put the
safety of others and himself at risk. I have decided that a period of
suspension cannot be avoided and consider a period of SIX WEEKS to be
appropriate. In so ordering I am giving him some sympathy for the
circumstances he found himself in with the distribution centres. The
suspension will be from 23:59 on Sunday 23 May 2010.

Summary: Mr Alistair Priestley’s entitlement will be SUSPENDED for 6

WEEKS from 23:59 on 23 May 2010.
Driver Mr Christopher McLanachan

338. Mr Christopher McLanachan’s duties are in the workshop looking

after the vehicles so it is a day time job there. His driving is mostly
in connection with road testing vehicles. The Examiners looked at 17
charts. I have looked at all of these and have noted that most of them
are day time journeys ie from not before 7am and mostly ending early or
late afternoon. The two that stick out as being out of normal hours of
work for Mr McLanachan are the journeys for which the Examiners allege
that he has completed the charts in his name but Messrs Maund or McLeish
respectively did the journeys. The Examiners concluded that the chart of
26/27 from Harthill to Kilsyth is that for Mr Maud who would have run
out of hours. I am of the view that Mr Maund was at Tesco Livingston
when the delivery was made and that Tesco Livingston’s record of that
unloading was accurate. The Tesco paperwork (annex 92 in the Public
Inquiry brief) gives the times in and out for the load and that these
times coincide completely with the times shown on the chart in name of
Mr Christopher McLanachan. I agree with the Examiners that the insertion
of the name “Mallnd” is a mis-spelling of “Maund”. I can see no
source for Tesco using that name other than that the driver or person
with the load gave it. The evidence points to Mr Maund being at Tesco
Livingston at those times, the only question remaining is was Mr
Christopher McLanachan there too, having most likely worked a full day
at McLanachans and then out to midnight with this final delivery and
then a home to go to or was his the later role of completing the
centrefield details and lending his name? No one has made any admissions
of ghosting. I find that Mr Christopher McLanachan and Mr Kevin Maund
have made false records of their driving and duty times for the journeys
done on 26/27 February but I hold back from finding ghosting as I
believe that Mr Maund was with Mr McLanachan that night. That does not
detract from the fact that both drivers were out of time and that Mr
McLanachan should have been resting given that he would have done a full
day’s work earlier that day. Road safety and respect for the purposes
of the drivers’ hours rules were offended against.

339. In relation to the chart for 29 March something is most definitely

askew and Mr Christopher McLanachan who is a mechanic and who might have
had cause to look at whether a tachograph was malfunctioning cannot
explain why the Examiners can find the head opened, the clock wound back
and the distance traces not matching. There may actually be something to
his explanation here given that the vehicle was en route to the ferry to
the continent and thus away from base. In 2008 the clocks would have
gone forward in Britain and Europe on 30 March. I am prepared to give Mr
Christopher McLanachan the benefit of the doubt here but he should have
annotated the back of the chart so that anyone checking the chart would
know what had happened.

340. In respect of the journey in which ghosting with Mr McLeish is

alleged that is 18 March I can see why the Examiners were doubtful
particularly given what scrutiny of Mr McLeish’s charts had disclosed.
The failure to record duty time casts doubts but I am prepared in this
instance to believe Christopher McLanachan’s answer at interview that
Mr McLeish was with him at Tesco. It is not satisfactory that the
Examiners could not form a true picture - particularly in relation to Mr
McLeish who is of concern - but I am not able to find on balance of
probabilities that there was ghosting.

341. Mr Christopher McLanachan has been working long days as a mechanic

and then doing night time change overs on these occasions. Even if he
did not know about duty time he knows about road safety and drivers
hours being curtailed by drivers’ hours rules. He cannot claim
ignorance of the need for drivers to have rest. He will have been
fatigued even though he may not have thought so. I find that by working
such long hours that goes to his conduct and that he is not fit. I
determine that his entitlement will be suspended for TWO WEEKS with
effect from 23.59 on 16 May 2010.

342. Summary: Mr Christopher McLanachan’s entitlement will be

suspended for two weeks with effect from 23.59 on 16 May 2010.

Driver Mr Wayne Allen

343. Mr Allen has been at a driver conduct hearing before and so is

aware of the need to observe the drivers hours and tachograph rules. He
has a speeding conviction and a mobile phone conviction. He chose to
answer his phone when he should not have done so. Traffic Commissioners
take a very serious view of large goods vehicle drivers who commit such
an offence as regrettably lives have been lost and serious injuries
sustained through the loss of concentration occasioned by such use. As
with others in this case, Mr Allen did not record duty time to and from
his vehicle and his employer did nothing to counter that practice. He
erred on the side of driving on to find parking rather than using Perth
services. I consider that gives insight into the rest of the evidence
against Mr Allen that he drives on, works on to finish the job and
thereby eats into his rest. This is what happened on 28/29 February and
29/1 March. He has had insufficient rest on these dates. I accept Mr
Allen’s evidence in relation to practices at Poullaouen for unloading
and washing of trailers. The Examiners engaged in too much conjecture in
relation to the latter and we all had the benefit of drivers’
descriptions of Poullaouen as the hearing progressed. However Mr Allen
has not given a true account of his whereabouts in relation to ferry
crossings and the journeys from theses. There is a pattern of such. I do
accept that there was a problem with brakes on 10 March. Leaving aside
any duty to or from the vehicle, I find that he has made false records
on 28/29 February, 4, 5, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20 24, 25, 26 March and that he
failed to have sufficient daily rest on occasions, and insufficient
weekly rest in that period. I find that he is not fit by reason of his
conduct and that he will have been fatigued and that he has tried to do
much particularly on the UK side of his job. Having found that he is not
fit, I determine that his entitlement will be suspended for EIGHT WEEKS
with effect from 23.59 on 30 May 2010.

Driver Mr James Preston

344. There are episodes in Public Inquiries and hearings that stay with
one for a long time and so it was with Mr Preston and his pride and
affiliation to his Truck Drivers Handbook. The problem for him arose
when I turned up the publication date of 1985. Only the most benign of
individuals could fail to notice that the world has changed rather a lot
since then and so have the drivers’ hours and tachograph provisions.
Mr Preston has let himself get out of date. He knew of the Skills case
yet did not check to see if it applied to him. He has been fuelling off
the chart and doing other journeys off the chart. I agree though that
the small movements at Kilsyth are likely to be shunting there and not
him driving. He has not recorded duty time. I do not feel confident to
make an adverse finding that would have him tipping off the chart at TNT
though I can see why the Examiners thought that a possibility and it may
be what happened. I do not find that he is one to defy the need for rest
but I have to put down a marker in relation to the fuelling and other
errands off the charts. I determine that he is not fit and that his
entitlement will be SUSPENDED for TWO WEEKS from 23.59 on Sunday 16 May
2010.

345. Summary: Mr James Preston’s entitlement will be SUSPENDED for

TWO WEEKS from 23.59 on 23 May 2010.

Driver Mr James Blackwood

346. James Blackwood is a relatively young mechanic who has benefited

from McLanachans training him and putting him through his LGV
entitlement. Of all the witnesses in this case he struck me as a
straightforward honest guy. I hope I have not got that wrong because if
I have then I will have come to the wrong conclusions in this case in
relation to ghosting. As with other drivers in this case he has not
recorded duty time and has had insufficient daily rest. On the journey
to Carlisle and back he would have been fatigued and a risk to other
road users and it appears that was not considered by him or whoever
called him out and similarly so when he went out to Hamilton,
fortunately not so far away, to relieve Mr Beeger. Whilst he might be a
late bedder, that does not mean he will not be fatigued and less
responsive in his reaction time. He claims he was paid for these
journeys so he has benefited financially as well as obliging his
employer.

347. I regard the two episodes of late night driving and insufficient
daily rest as serious and I find that he is not fit by reason of his
conduct. That he was not on a regime of recording duty time reflects on
the operator. I determine that his entitlement will be SUSPENDED for TWO
WEEKS from 23.59 on 16 May 2010.

348. Summary: Mr James Blackwood’s entitlement will be SUSPENDED for

TWO WEEKS from 23.59 on 16 May 2010.

Mr Damian McLanachan

349. In relation to Mr Damian McLanachan the allegations were failing

to record duty time and ghosting. I have looked very carefully at the
ghosting allegations and I quite see why the Examiners were suspicious
and I comment that is a problem when full records of duty time are not
kept. I cannot find ghosting established on balance of probabilities. I
am prepared to believe that it is possible to do change overs within
customers’ premises and to get past the gateman with an explanation.
But where I am not impressed by Damian McLanachan is in relation to the
length of his working day. We will never be able to ascertain that to
any accurate degree given the non recording of duty time. I think he has
gone out to meet drivers coming back north who have been running out of
time and to get them and the vehicles to customers and then Kilsyth.
This has been done for the convenience of the business and without
thought of drivers’ hours and his own likely fatigue. I find that he
is not fit by reason of his conduct and I determine that his entitlement
will be suspended for THREE WEEKS with effect from 23.59 on 9 May 2010.

350. Summary: Mr Damien McLanachan’s entitlement will be suspended

for THREE WEEKS with effect from 23.59 on 9 May 2010.

Driver Mr Matthew McLanachan

351. Mr Matthew McLanachan quite simply was not recording his duty time
and on one occasion used two charts. He should have known to do this
because he is also a transport manager and operator. I think he knew
that there was a weird law in the background which related to duty time
and that he was self serving in his putting it out of his mind. In that
this is of more significance in the operator case whilst I determine
that he is not fit by reason of his conduct in not making a complete
record, I will limit the action against his driver licence entitlement
to a short suspension not least because unlike his relatives none of the
charts in question revealed a very long day - indeed in all charts bar 2
the driving took place during what might be termed normal office hours
for a transport operation and the other 2 had him finished by 10pm. But
in those instances he should have realised that the hours he had already
put in took him beyond what should be expected of a driver needing rest.
The period of suspension will be TWO WEEKS with effect from 23.59 on 9
May 2010.

352. Summary of decision: Mr Matthew McLanachan’s entitlement will be

suspended for a period of two weeks with effect from 23.59 on 9 May
2010.

SUMMARY OF MY DECISIONS

353. The operator licence will be suspended for FOUR weeks from 23.59
on 6 June 2010 during which time the vehicles suspended from the
licence will not be used on this or any other licence in any traffic
area. On the cessation of the suspension the authorisation under the
licence will be curtailed to 12 vehicles with the trailer authorisation
unaffected.

354. The operator, directors and transport manager are WARNED as to

their respective repute.

355. The following drivers are WARNED as to their conduct as driver of

large goods vehicles and holders of large goods driver licence
entitlement:

Messrs Ian Roberts, Keith Nicholson and Scott West.

356. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr David

Stewart will be SUSPENDED from 23.59 on 30 May 2010 for a period of
SIX WEEKS.
357. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Brian
Watkins will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 30 May 2010 for a period of TWO
WEEKS.

358. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Patrick

John McIntyre will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 31 May 2010 for a period
of ONE MONTH.

359. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Martin

Flanagan will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 30 May 2010 for a period of
ONE WEEK.

360. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr John Craw
will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 23 May 2010 for a period of TWO WEEKS.

361. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Alistair

Priestley will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 23 May 2010 for a period of
SIX WEEKS.

362. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr

Christopher McLanachan will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 16 May 2010 for a
period of TWO WEEKS.

363. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr James

Preston will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 23 May 2010 for a period of TWO
WEEKS.

364. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr James

Blackwood will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 16 May 2010 for a period of
TWO WEEKS.

365. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Damien

McLanachan will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 9 May 2010 for a period of
THREE WEEKS.

366. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Matthew

McLanachan will be SUSPENDED from 23:59 on 9 May 2010 for a period of
TWO WEEKS.

367. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Alexander

Miller will be REVOKED and he disqualified for a period of TWO YEARS
from 23.59 on 8 May 2010.

368. The large goods vehicle driver licence entitlement of Mr Wayne

Allen will be SUSPENDED from 23.59 on 30 May 2010 for EIGHT WEEKS.

Joan N Aitken SSC

Traffic Commissioner for Scotland
17 April 2010