A haulage company was convicted and fined at Castlebar District Court on Wednesday after an inspection from the Road Safety Authority found that a number of the company’s drivers had exceeded the legal driving time on a daily basis.
Jim Fleming from the RSA outlined that on March 28 2011, a driver for Brian Cunningham Transport Ltd, Unit 1, McHale Road Retail Park, Castlebar, was stopped. Recorded on the lorry’s tachograph, it showed that on March 16 2011, the driver had driven 13 hours and 20 minutes; the legal maximum is nine hours. A rest break recorded on the tachograph showed six hours and 50 minutes; the legal rest period should be 11 hours.
The explanation for the excess driving was because the driver who was driving from Claremorris to Roscommon to Dublin, had to return to Roscommon, before driving onwards to Dublin, as the wrong load had been put in the lorry.
Evidence was also given on other dates, and for other drivers, who exceeded permitted driving times and who did not take sufficient rest periods.
The owner of the company, Brian Cunningham accepted all responsibility. The court heard that Cunningham employs 28 people and that at the time of the offences there was a different manager employed by him. The RSA is to return to the company to inspect the tachographs.
For the March 16 offence Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined Brian Cunningham Transport Ltd €750. The remaining charges were taken into consideration.
