Lisburn Haulage Company fined £12,000 for failure to provide records on drivers’ hours

A Co Antrim haulage company was today fined a total of £12,000 at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court for twelve breaches of regulations relating to recording equipment and tachograph records.

McCulla (Ireland) Ltd, Blaris Industrial Estate, Lisburn pleaded guilty to the twelve charges brought under the Passenger and Goods Vehicles (Recording Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 and was fined £1,000 on each charge.

The offences arose following an investigation in March 2009 by officials from the Enforcement (Testing) Section within the Driver & Vehicle Agency into drivers’ hours and records compliance.

The regulations require drivers to take regular breaks and adequate overnight / weekly rests and govern the number of hours they can drive a goods vehicle, this provides a safety net for the driver and other road users.

Notes to editors:

1. The Passenger and Goods Vehicles (Recording Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 enacts Regulation (EC) 561/2006 which places requirements on drivers of most goods vehicles in relation to the number of hours driven and the amount of rest taken and the type of records kept.
2. McCulla (Ireland) Ltd were charged with eleven sample offences under 3 (1) (a) (iii) of the Passenger and Goods Vehicles (Recording Equipment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996, these charges related to the non production of tachograph record sheets or printouts. The remaining offence related to a failure to ensure return of record sheets in contravention of regulation 4 (2) of the same regulations.
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