At a public inquiry in Bristol last month, traffic commissioner Kevin Rooney heard evidence from the DVSA, which investigated Scorpion Engineering after one of its vehicles was stopped in January.
Analysis of data from the driver’s card and the vehicle unit revealed four separate dates where it appeared the driver had exceeded 4.5 hours of driving without a qualifying break. There was also one instance of knowingly making a false record.
A second encounter that month, with a different driver, revealed several offences, including exceeding 10 hours’ driving and insufficient daily rest within a 24-hour period. Additionally, the vehicle was overloaded.
“The company did not have systems in place to identify these offences. There is no evidence before me today that they have these systems now,” remarked Rooney.
The traffic commissioner did note that the company had brought additional resource into the business, specifically a new transport manager, an external trainer/consultant and company secretary with background in systems and controls. He also noted that the firm had the financial resources to put things right.
Ruling that it would be disproportionate to take any action that would put the firm out of business, Rooney concluded: “Any future application to increase licence authority will be more likely to succeed if accompanied by a comprehensive third party audit of all compliance systems, and with specific attention paid to journey scheduling, tachograph analysis, unaccounted driving and maintenance.”