The reason many drivers seem to get away scot free is because we are not geared up to prosecuting them. I have worked for several “foreign operators” and the drivers have told me of being asked for “on the spot fines” or more than likely just left alone because the PC is too scared to stop a foreign truck.
However fines are levied and can sometimes be heavy.
A Hungarian HGV driver caught driving while more than two times over the legal drink-drive limit has been given a 22-month driving ban.
On New Year’s Eve, police stopped lorry driver Antal Besenyi’s Daf at Fordham Road, Newmarket. Besenyi failed a breath test with a reading of 85 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.
At Ipswich Magistrates’ Court on 1 January, Besenyi admitted the charge and was given a 22-month UK driving ban. He was also fined £300 with the alternative of 14 days in prison if he failed to pay, and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.
A Lithuanian HGV driver has received a driving ban and a jail sentence for assaulting a Vosa traffic examiner. Vosa has welcomed the decision by Holyhead Magistrates’ Court on 9 December to sentence the driver, who assaulted a traffic examiner at a Vosa check site on the A55, near Holyhead Port in North Wales.
The Lithuanian driver pleaded guilty to assault. He was given a one-month prison sentence for assault and another one-month sentence for fraud, which he will serve concurrently. He also received a 12-month UK driving ban.
According to Vosa, the incident happened on 4 December when the traffic examiner climbed into the cab and noticed tachograph equipment had been tampered with. He also saw the speed limiter was not working.
Vosa adds that at this point the driver became aggressive and eventually the police were called; however, the traffic examiner was not seriously injured. Alex Fiddes, Vosa’s chief operating officer, says: “Vosa will not hesitate to use the full weight of the law to deal with people who are unco-operative and assault our staff.”
From the Magistrates Association,
Deposit Scheme
The Deposit Scheme is a sensible answer to the problem of dealing with offending foreign drivers. The deposit ranges from £300 to £900 (or the actual fixed penalty) which seems reasonable. It does get over the problem of a foreign driver caught on a Saturday night who might have a perishable load, when to hold him until Monday morning would not be a proportionate response.
In the schedule of prescribed charges on page 69 there is a proposed charge of £15 for vehicle storage - for each period of 24 hours or part thereof. As the owner of the vehicle is unlikely to be able to remove the vehicle in the same instant that it is put into storage, and as there is a charge of £160 for the removal of the vehicle, it seems more equitable to apply the storage charge “for each period of 24 hours or part thereof, after the first 24 hours”.
