A Donegal haulage company has been fined after a court heard of serious road safety breaches, including the use of a second driver card to conceal excessive driving hours.
The case of Niall Barton Transport, of Backhill, Buncrana was before Judge Éiteáin Cunningham at Letterkenny District Court.
The company faced several charges, but guilty pleas were tendered to three sample charges on a full facts basis. The company, which the court heard was no longer trading as a haulier, was fined a total of €2,500.
An inspector from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) outlined the matter to State Solicitor for Donegal, Mr Kieran Dillon.
The inspector said that a stationary vehicle was examined at Attidermot, Aughrim, Co Galway on June 30, 2021.
On examining the data of the card from the driver, Michael Horan, the inspector found that a second card was being used.
“Under caution, the driver was not very helpful to us,” the inspector said. Horan discarded a second driver card, bearing the name of an Aaron James Mullan, into a nearby field and this was retrieved by Gardaí.
When later interviewed by the RSA, Barton confirmed that Horan was then an “ex employee”. Barton outlined that he did not know who the Mullan person was identified on the second card.
The inspector said that Horan’s driving represented “a serious breach of daily rest” and that he was using a second card to cover it up.
The company, the inspector told the court, “should have done his checks and he wasn’t doing that.”
An issue where the wrong registration was linked to a tachograph was attributed to a company which had leased the vehicle to Barton.
A driver card for a vehicle operating on July 1, 2021 was not in the lorry for eight hours and nine minutes on a day when the vehicle was driven for a total of 12 hours and two minutes. Barton told the RSA inspector that the driver card was faulty.
“There was no card used in the vehicle,” the inspector said, adding that no print outs or report was sent back to the RSA. Barton had undertaken to retrieve print-outs, but did not do so.
The court heard that there was a vast amount of driving time on the lorry concerned on July 1 and July 2.
On September 18, 2021, no driver card was used in a lorry between 2.31pm and 6.43pm when the driving time was three hours and 53 minutes.
Barton’s own card was inserted at 6.43pm. He told the inspectors that another man brought the vehicle from Luton to Birkenhead on that day before he took over.
The court heard information in respect of another incident on October 2, 2021 when Barton’s card was in from 6.01am to 10.02pm and there was no driver card in the lorry from 10.10pm to 11.18pm, during which time the vehicle was driven for one hour and six minutes. Barton told inspectors that he had left the keys in the vehicle and it “could have been moved around the yard”.
The inspector told the court: “I said to him ‘for an hour, driving around the yard’ and he didn’t answer.”
The company was charged that it contravened the provisions of Regulations 26 (1) (d) of the European Union (Road Transport) (Working Conditions and Road Safety) Regulations 2017 in that Michael Horan being an employee of a person contracted by you, a transport undertaking, driving a vehicle on 30th of June 2021 did contravene Regulation 26 (1) (d) of S.I. 299/2017, in that the aforementioned driver did possess, use or attempt to use a driver card in circumstances where the driver was not the holder of the card.
The company also pleaded guilty to two charges that it contravened the provisions of article 32 (1) of the Council Regulation (EU) no 165/2014 in that he did fail to ensure the correct functioning and proper use of digital tachographs and driver cards. This is contrary to regulation 41 (1) (B) of the European Union (Road Transport) (Working Conditions and Road Safety) Regulation 2017 (SI 229/2017) made under section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 as amended,
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Barton’s solicitor, Mr Mac Lochlainn, told the court that his client was not present as he was taking a load of cattle out to Spain on behalf of another company he is now working for.
Mr Mac Lochlainn asked the inspector, in cross examination, if it was correct to say that the company’s set up was “pretty amateur.”
“It’s a haulage company and he was the transport manager,” the inspector said. “There are regulations there.”
Mr Mac Lochlainn said that Barton was not up top speed in the necessary “computer work” and the inspector responded: “He has a transport manager qualification. It is very regulated and should be taken very seriously. Someone should be monitoring what is going on.”
Mr Mac Lochlainn put it to the inspector that Horan was operating a “scam.” The inspector confirmed that Horan was prosecuted in Galway for using a second driver card, pleaded guilty and was fined.
“Horan never worked with Niall Barton after that,” Mr Mac Lochlainn added.
The court later heard that Horan was fined a total of €2,250 and had a costs order of €1,000 against him.
Mr MacLochlainn told the inspector that Barton had “never heard tell of” the Aaron James McMullan whose name was on the second card. The inspector outlined that there was a download of the card from Barton’s computer.
The inspector said that Barton “didn’t give me everything I wanted” when he was questioned.
Mr Mac Lochlainn said Barton’s office was effectively in the kitchen of his house and that his operation was “fairly amateur”.
“There cannot be amateur set ups in road haulage,” the inspector said. “He has the qualification for an operator’s licence and one of the terms and conditions is that, on request by a control officer, he has to have the data available when we request it. He also has a qualification as a transport manager so he knows the rules and regulations.”
The inspector added: “Road safety is very expensive.”
In mitigation, Mr MacLochlainn said his client is a 38-year-old father-of-two who has no previous convictions.
“He started out as a lorry driver himself,” Mr Mac Lochlainn said. “He thought that he would set up his own business. He had one lorry and he rented two.”
“He didn’t know that this man was operating illegally with someone else’s card. The driver was supposed to be on a trip from Newry to Cork and he side-tracked to Galway to get a Covid jab. My client never heard of the man named on the other card. That person was never prosecuted as he couldn’t be tracked down.”
Mr MacLochlainn said that his client was now anxious to put the matter behind him. His company is not operating any longer and the man is now working himself for another haulier.
“He cooperated insofar as he could and is anxious for it to be disposed of,” Mr Mac Lochlainn said, asking the judge to show whatever leniency she could.
After considering the matter, Judge Cunningham returned to deliver her judgement.
“The Road Safety Authority is tasked, among other things, with the governance and implementation of various road safety strategies,” Judge Cunningham said. “They try to ensure that roads are safer and reduce road traffic collisions which may have serious consequences for road users.”
“We hear time and time again and we see signs on the road that tiredness can kill – and for that reason the regulations must be adhered to, to the letter of the law.”
“I accept what Mr Mac Lochlainn says that his client’s set up was amateur in nature, but it ought not to have been. He had an obligation to monitor employees and make whatever arrangements necessary.”
The company was convicted on three charges and fined a total of €2,500, which must be paid within five months.