A HGV driver has been given a 12-month ban by a traffic commissioner after he illegally used another driver’s tachograph card to work double shifts. This comes after an amended legislative document, outlining the increased role of traffic commissioners in driver conduct, was published in December.
The newly amended legislation says that while criminal courts are concerned with punishing for criminal offences – the role of the traffic commissioner is to determine whether or not a driver is fit to obtain or continue to hold a licence.
Nick Denton, the traffic commissioner who enforced the ban, said that the driver’s conduct “severely jeopardises road safety”. Stephen Duggan, the driver, regularly worked between 70 and 80 hours, and sometimes upto 90 hours a week – the maximum allowed under the Working Time Directive is 60 hours.
Duggan was reported for committing 84 drivers hours and tachograph offences. The commissioner implemented the ban following a driver conduct hearing in Birmingham last month.
