Any driver that removes a digital tachograph card from the head unit and then continues to drive an in-scope vehicle should be dismissed in all barring the most exceptional of circumstances, Traffic Commissioner (TC) Miles Dorrington has said.
Mr Dorrington’s words are within a written decision following a Public Inquiry on 21 March involving Bouden Travel and its Transport Manager (TM) Sophie Baugh.
The TC notes that driving an in-scope vehicle without a tachograph card inserted “is the equivalent to a road safety critical S-marked maintenance-related prohibition,” and he is scathing of what is described as “no, or no serious, disciplinary action” by the operator when that alleged offence was discovered.
Mr Dorrington thus reduced Bouden’s vehicle authorisation from 18 to 14 from 26 April, with a finding that its repute is severely tarnished but not lost. Ms Baugh received a first and final written warning, with her repute as a TM “severely tarnished and hanging by the thinnest of threads.”
Evidence was provided by DVSA that on five alleged occasions in late 2023 and early 2024, coaches were driven with no tachograph card inserted. Earlier alleged instances had been identified in May 2023. Mr Dorrington notes that as no explanation was provided, he could not conclude that the driving without a card had been done for valid reasons.
In strongly worded comments, the TC says that “there is never, ever a lawful excuse for a professional driver to remove their digital tachograph card from the digital tachograph machine and then to carry on driving an in-scope vehicle.”
He adds: “Pulling a digital tachograph card and then carrying on driving is dishonest, it is a criminal offence, and it is there to hide duty time that should be recorded, [and it] is done in almost 100% of cases to conceal an offence that would otherwise be committed were the card to remain in the machine.”
Mr Dorrington notes that there is no more serious a breach of drivers’ hours and tachograph laws than removing a card and continuing to drive. His written decision is highly critical of the operator for not dismissing staff who committed that alleged offence.
“Pulling a card/creating a false record is prima facie an act of gross misconduct,” the TC continues. “The outcome of [a] finding of gross misconduct after a disciplinary hearing should be summary dismissal, save in the most exceptional of circumstances.”
Failure to take such an offence seriously brings “a significant adverse bearing” to the repute of both an operator and a TM, Mr Dorrington says. Driving an in-scope vehicle with no tachograph card inserted additionally breaches general undertakings on an O-Licence.
Also highlighted at the PI was use of self-employed drivers by the operator until the day of the Inquiry, and the alleged scale of 4.5-hour driving period and daily rest period breaches.
Fuller coverage of this case will follow in a future issue of routeone.
