What’s the likely outcome of you have been to magistrates with 7 offences ( driving with other people’s cards in , going over time etc ) and got referred to crown court ? Couple of lads at our place been done so just being nosey lol it heard there is a 50/50 of jail , would it be years or months , and still get fined/banned etc
Smoggie89:
What’s the likely outcome of you have been to magistrates with 7 offences ( driving with other people’s cards in , going over time etc ) and got referred to crown court ? Couple of lads at our place been done so just being nosey lol it heard there is a 50/50 of jail , would it be years or months , and still get fined/banned etc
For drivers it would be fines but for the bosses it could be jail - that’s what I expect unless the drivers have been fined before for similar offences
PS - VOSA are now DVSA
ROG:
Smoggie89:
What’s the likely outcome of you have been to magistrates with 7 offences ( driving with other people’s cards in , going over time etc ) and got referred to crown court ? Couple of lads at our place been done so just being nosey lol it heard there is a 50/50 of jail , would it be years or months , and still get fined/banned etcFor drivers it would be fines but for the bosses it could be jail - that’s what I expect unless the drivers have been fined before for similar offences
PS - VOSA are now DVSA
At first they got told between £500-2K fine that’s it , but now they been told 50/50 chance of jail , not sure about bans etc… The boss isn’t there as company shut however long ago and he in diff country or summit
Smoggie89:
What’s the likely outcome of you have been to magistrates with 7 offences ( driving with other people’s cards in , going over time etc ) and got referred to crown court ? Couple of lads at our place been done so just being nosey lol it heard there is a 50/50 of jail , would it be years or months , and still get fined/banned etc
What you’re talking about are regarded as the most serious tachograph offences and if convicted could see the drivers losing their HGV entitlement and getting custodial sentences, if the bosses were knowingly complicit in this they will probably be banned from operating lorries again and could also receive custodial sentences.
The outcome will depend on just how serious the offences were, if the court is convinced they were regularly driving on other peoples cards so they could drive for hours over their legal time I’d say jail time is on the cards, it’s almost certainly going to be months rather than years though.
Whatever sentences the court issues they will be called before the TC and I’d be surprised if they didn’t have their HGV entitlement suspended for a while or worse.
tachograph:
Smoggie89:
What’s the likely outcome of you have been to magistrates with 7 offences ( driving with other people’s cards in , going over time etc ) and got referred to crown court ? Couple of lads at our place been done so just being nosey lol it heard there is a 50/50 of jail , would it be years or months , and still get fined/banned etcWhat you’re talking about are regarded as the most serious tachograph offences and if convicted could see the drivers losing their HGV entitlement and getting custodial sentences, if the bosses were knowingly complicit in this they will probably be banned from operating lorries again and could also receive custodial sentences.
The outcome will depend on just how serious the offences were, if the court is convinced they were regularly driving on other peoples cards so they could drive for hours over their legal time I’d say jail time is on the cards, it’s almost certainly going to be months rather than years though.
Whatever sentences the court issues they will be called before the TC and I’d be surprised if they didn’t have their HGV entitlement suspended for a while or worse.
I heard 1 of them say about custodial sentence but I dunno what that means lol , they went to magistrates yesterday and 1 is in with a probation officer today and in crown on the 1st of June , they both lie all the time so just wondered what it could be as they just tell lies , apparently 18 drivers are there all from same firm which is now closed shop
Smoggie89:
I heard 1 of them say about custodial sentence but I dunno what that means lol
“Custodial sentence” equals jail time 
Smoggie89:
they went to magistrates yesterday and 1 is in with a probation officer today and in crown on the 1st of June , they both lie all the time so just wondered what it could be as they just tell lies , apparently 18 drivers are there all from same firm which is now closed shop
18 drivers being prosecuted makes it sound like it was a regular and accepted practice at that company, I would have thought the sentences are likely to be harsher if that’s the case.
From what you’ve said the boss of that company had better hope the country he’s in doesn’t have an extradition agreement with the UK 
tachograph:
Smoggie89:
I heard 1 of them say about custodial sentence but I dunno what that means lol“Custodial sentence” equals jail time
Smoggie89:
they went to magistrates yesterday and 1 is in with a probation officer today and in crown on the 1st of June , they both lie all the time so just wondered what it could be as they just tell lies , apparently 18 drivers are there all from same firm which is now closed shop18 drivers being prosecuted makes it sound like it was a regular and accepted practice at that company, I would have thought the sentences are likely to be harsher if that’s the case.
From what you’ve said the boss of that company had better hope the country he’s in doesn’t have an extradition agreement with the UK
Haha they pleaded guilty but said they were forced to do it n all that ■■■■■■■■ , oh well I’ll wait until the 1st June see what happens
Magistrates do not refer cases to Crown Court for nothing. The maximum custodial sentence that a Magistrate can issue is two years. If they have plead guilty then it only remains for them to be sentenced, if a Magistrate feels unable to impose a suitable sentence then they refer it to Crown court to be sentenced by a judge. Hope they like porridge 
If I am reading your post correctly and these drivers are colleagues of yours then I would be jacking pronto and looking for alternative employment, particularly if you haven’t always been 100% squeaky clean yourself. Not saying you haven’t mind but something to bear in mind.
As has been said they don’t got to the expense of kicking things to crown court for nothing. I’d say best case scenario suspended but it’ll be a jail sentence.
You would have thought that the bosses would have known about it, because it would be a little suspicious when timesheets are landing on the desk with drivers getting paid for 300 odd hours a week!!! 
There is no need to be running dirty!! I pull in more than enough dollar and keep it clean. When I first started I got about 4 infringemnts in 2/3 weeks but was still getting to grips with the timings / requirements etc. No excuse I know, but since then have been squeeky clean!!! As I feel up to speed with the regs!!
I’d refer the drivers concerned to the thread about using communal showers - they may be in need of some hints & tips shortly.
kjw21:
I’d refer the drivers concerned to the thread about using communal showers - they may be in need of some hints & tips shortly.
Claretmac:
You would have thought that the bosses would have known about it, because it would be a little suspicious when timesheets are landing on the desk with drivers getting paid for 300 odd hours a week!!!
At one company that has since gone bust years ago i got paid for 26hrs straight once doing other work and regularly did 12-16hr nights shifts in the warehouse 6 nights a week and during that time i might have done 1 trunk run or rescued a couple of drivers who run out of time near by. The main thing was not to keep records, never had a drivers pack and all the time in the warehouse was a ‘rest day’.
Boss’s will know whats going on, the three top guys at that place (TM, TM assistant and the Managing Director) used to joke about having cells next to each other.
Max sentence in Magistrates is 6 months or 5,000 pounds so if they are bound over to Crown Court, the magistrates felt that they probably deserved more.
mrginge:
Claretmac:
You would have thought that the bosses would have known about it, because it would be a little suspicious when timesheets are landing on the desk with drivers getting paid for 300 odd hours a week!!!At one company that has since gone bust years ago i got paid for 26hrs straight once doing other work and regularly did 12-16hr nights shifts in the warehouse 6 nights a week and during that time i might have done 1 trunk run or rescued a couple of drivers who run out of time near by. The main thing was not to keep records, never had a drivers pack and all the time in the warehouse was a ‘rest day’.
Boss’s will know whats going on, the three top guys at that place (TM, TM assistant and the Managing Director) used to joke about having cells next to each other.
#and yet despite the advice you received your ignored it, and posted it on on the interweb
Driving with other peoples digi cards will be classed as fraud, that will equate to jail time.
As others have said,it will be tea and biscuits with the Traffic Commisioner, who will take the Lgv licences.
If it is with Sarah or Beverly Bell, they do not suffer fools.
green456:
The maximum custodial sentence that a Magistrate can issue is two years.
Six months for a single offence, 12 months for multiple offences.
A well known firm in our area were in the ■■■■ like this. About 10 drivers got between 7 weeks and 6 months inside, plus bans when they got out ranging from 7 to 56 days
As it has been kicked up to the Crown Court they’ll be looking at anything up to a 2 year prison term plus a lengthy ban.
Something similar to this example.