Operator Fined on Series of Offences

A County Antrim Operator has been convicted at Ballymena Magistrates’ Court and fined a total of £750 after DVA Enforcement Officers carrying out compliance checks at a weighbridge site at Toome stopped a large articulated lorry.

The vehicle combination was weighed and the following was noted: the plated gross vehicle weight of 7500Kgs, was overloaded by 971Kgs (12.9%); the plated gross train weight of 11000Kgs was overloaded by 1441Kgs (13.1%) and the first axle of the trailer weight of 1500Kgs was overloaded by 170Kgs (11.3%). Regulations require the weight shown on a plate fitted to a vehicle should not be exceeded.

When Departmental records were checked, it was noted that the vehicle was not covered by a valid goods Vehicle Operators Licence. Regulations require a goods vehicle exceeding 3500Kgs to be specified on a valid Goods Vehicle Operators Licence. The vehicle combination weight was such that it required the driver to be the holder of a C1+E unrestricted driving licence entitlement, the driver did not possess such entitlement on his licence. The driver’s licence did entitle him to drive such a vehicle combination as a learner; he was unaccompanied and not displaying “L” plates. Regulations require the holder of C1 provisional driving licence, to be supervised whilst driving. The driver was asked to produce his driver CPC qualification card, which he was unable to do as he did not possess a CPC card. Regulations require the driver of vehicle exceeding 3500Kgs to use the tachograph recording equipment.

Tachograph and Drivers Hours Infringements

A driver was convicted at Ballymena Magistrates’ Court and fined a total of £1700 after DVA Enforcement Officers were involved in a multi-agency operation with the PSNI & HMRC in the Larne area.

A 3 axle Scania in combination with a 3-axle trailer was directed to the DVA check site at Larne where an inspection of the vehicle and tachograph records were carried out. The tachograph unit within the vehicle was downloaded for analysis. This analysis highlighted that the vehicle had been driven for 13 separate days without a card in the recording equipment. The analysis also highlighted that the driver had five driver’s hour’s infringements. This analysis showed that the driver card of driver had been removed and the driver card of another driver had been inserted on two occasions. On analysis of this data there were 18 infringements identified - nine offences of insufficient daily rest, four excess daily driving, three of insufficient breaks after 4 ½ hours driving, one weekly rest offence and one fortnightly driving exceeded. Under EU Driver Regulations, these infringements constituted two most serious infringements, 11 very serious infringements, four serious infringements and one minor infringement.