A north-east lorry driver who falsified records and broke the rules on taking breaks has been banned from the roads.
The Traffic Commissioner for Scotland has ruled that James Smart – a Rosehearty man who ran a family haulage firm with his wife – had fallen into a pattern of behaviour which could endanger other drivers.
Mr Smart has had his professional driving licence revoked, and has been disqualified from driving HGVs for 12 months.
When she revoked his licence, Traffic Commissioner for Scotland Joan Aitken said: “Mr Smart had descended into a pattern of behaviour that involved skimping on breaks, winding back the clock, having insufficient rest and suiting himself.”
Mr Smart’s wife Maureen, who is named as the operator for the pair’s haulage outfit, was warned by the commissioner but was not stripped of her operator’s licence.
Last night Mrs Smart said: “This has left us with nothing. We’ve got custody of our grandson now but how can we support him?
“James is 63 years old and has driven for 40 years and never had any trouble.
“He has denied everything. They never listened to what he had to say so we will be appealing.”
The public inquiry into Mr Smart’s actions heard that the traffic examiner found dozens of falsified records. These included removing charts, seven instances of exceeding the 10 hours driving limit, another five instances of exceeding the 90 hours per fortnight limit as well as missing mileage.
The Traffic Commissioner heard that Mr Smart had tampered with the 44-tonne vehicle’s tachograph, the device which automatically records all of a driver’s activity.
Mr Smart denied the allegations and blamed his apparent failure to take breaks on forgetting to switch the tachograph’s mode.
He blamed the apparent wind backs on not properly resetting the device.
However, the tachograph’s manufacturer, Stoneridge, revealed that Mr Smart would have seen an error message on the machine if it was not resetting properly.
In conclusion, Miss Aitken said: “This is a case with a high level of offending and winding back of the clock.
“These rules are there for the very best of reasons – to protect us all from the harms which arise when lorry drivers are not properly rested and attentive to their driving.”