Clampdown on lorry drivers dodging tachograph recording

Date: 10/8/2011

The police have launched a campaign that will see them tackling the problem of heavy goods vehicle drivers using magnets to prevent their tachograph from recording how long they have been behind the wheel.

Along with the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, officers are leading an initiative that will involve handing out leaflets to motorists in the UK and from overseas highlighting the penalties for committing such offences.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has welcomed the news and says that the scheme must be backed up by offenders being brought before the courts, where they could face a £5,000 fine or two years in prison.

It adds that the practice of distorting the tachograph can present a road safety hazard as it allows drivers to work longer, leading to fatigue, while it also prompts others to do the same in order to keep up with the competition.

RHA Director of Policy Jack Semple says: "We have been stressing [to] ministers that the UK must send out a clear signal that the use of magnets is a really serious offence [that] will not be tolerated in this country."

The European Commission recently announced that it has suggested tachograph legislation be revised in order to tackle fraud and make use of technology such as satellite positioning.

Posted by Mary Treen