I wonder what the drivers were forced to do which led to Olivers altering the tacho records?
It wasn’t so much being forced to do anything, basically there was a lot of tacho offences and stupid things like sitting refuelling whilst on a break, travelling from their depot to Sunderland etc to collect the trailer on a Monday with no tacho chart in as they thought it was not part of their working day until they hitched the trailer up, basically just stupid things.
The Management were quite happy to let the drivers do those things without making any attempt to stop it, therefore made a financial gain which is why they were landed in court, If I remember rightly about 12 drivers were jailed back in Sept 2003 with another 10 or so being given community service etc.
you may aswell be a mugger than drive trucks, these days, just for going to work you get into trouble, they was only making a living after all whats wrong with that
Davey Driver:
It wasn’t so much being forced to do anything, basically there was a lot of tacho offences and stupid things like sitting refuelling whilst on a break, travelling from their depot to Sunderland etc to collect the trailer on a Monday with no tacho chart in as they thought it was not part of their working day until they hitched the trailer up, basically just stupid things.The Management were quite happy to let the drivers do those things without making any attempt to stop it, therefore made a financial gain which is why they were landed in court, If I remember rightly about 12 drivers were jailed back in Sept 2003 with another 10 or so being given community service etc.
disagree with you there it wasnt stupid things it was major… you dont run to sunderland without a chart in out of niavity you do it on purpose these were supposdly professional drivers who use tachos every day who are meant to know them inside out. we all try sometimes to sneak things sometimes… some more than others… but to be jailed and lets not forget its not 1/2 drivers it was 12… yes thats right 12 drivers being jailed and you dont get jailed for sitting on a diesal pump on break!!!
its not the first or second time olivers had been in court wasnt it the the 3rd so how stupid are they!!!
i should imagine if you get done and your drivers for tacho fiddling wont the ministry keep an eye on you to make sure you clean up your act but this company was blantly taking the ■■■■.
globby 480:
you may aswell be a mugger than drive trucks, these days, just for going to work you get into trouble, they was only making a living after all whats wrong with that
would you drive to sunderland without a chart in■■?
lol. j.d… dont even go down that road lol,
one thing mind YOU PAYES YA PRICE, AND YA TAKES YA CHANCE!!!
globby 480:
one thing mind YOU PAYES YA PRICE, AND YA TAKES YA CHANCE!!!
well they have paid their price 3 times!!! and the drivers are just the same to blame. 
tough they took the gamble and lost.
Firstly JD I think you’ve taken my explanation out of context, When I say stupid things I mean just that, stupid things that they should have known better, fair do’s if they had been misled into doing things that were very complex and had appeared to be legal.
As for the driving without tacho, this was one driver in particular who took his Unit home to Prudhoe on a Sat Morn after finishing at Sunderland and then bob tailed to collect his trailer on Monday, the only reason he was classed as breaking the law was because he’s booked on at work from leaving home, had he booked on from Sunderland the offence would have been very minor by not parking at the O Centre, he may of got away with the no tacho by classing it as personal use.
As I say they were STUPID things that Professional Drivers should have known better and Management should of stopped.
My overall Opinion on the Olivers is simple, they deserved everything they got and in fact I feel they were treat very lightly with just the £550k fine and a couple of years inside.
Davey Driver:
Firstly JD I think you’ve taken my explanation out of context, When I say stupid things I mean just that, stupid things that they should have known better, fair do’s if they had been misled into doing things that were very complex and had appeared to be legal.
.
ok sorry 
As for the driving without tacho, this was one driver in particular who took his Unit home to Prudhoe on a Sat Morn after finishing at Sunderland and then bob tailed to collect his trailer on Monday, the only reason he was classed as breaking the law was because he’s booked on at work from leaving home, had he booked on from Sunderland the offence would have been very minor by not parking at the O Centre, he may of got away with the no tacho by classing it as personal use.
thats what you get when you try and fiddle the company thats already fiddling.
,davey driver i like the bit about PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS■■? now when do we get called them?? ONLY WHEN WE DO SOMETHING WRONG!!
I.E… accidents etc,
""my veiw everybodys is diffrent on the subject “” … they was trying to make a living,ok a little bit iffy we know that, but their aint, TO… many people on here who can say they have always been 100% legal on the cards lets say the odd 5 mins over your driving time ,odd minute on dayley rest say 8.58 minutes,lets be truefull, now guys … that is bent still, isnt it, 
,
and for personal use… unless you own the truck/ not a employed driver …it doesnt count as personal use,
would you drive to sunderland without a chart in
As Geordies,I think I speak for Davey and myself when I say we’d drive OUT of Sunderland without charts in!!!
Ken.
does anyone know of any other jobs where you can get locked up for working
bank robbery , thats my point wylie, and all that for going to work 
wylie:
does anyone know of any other jobs where you can get locked up for working
yes, and the money’s a ■■■■ sight more than i earn now per hour - i’d look TERRIBLE in miniskirt and stockings though
as for the main subject, although i’ve never been whiter than white (said many times before) their whole operation was organised around running bent - guilty as sin and deserve everything they get i.m.h.o
Globby I’ve yet to find a driver who has NOT broken the law somewhere along the line, however, Olivers Drivers were not doing small misdemeanours here and there they were Blatantly Breaking the Law, the difference being there was over 200 tacho offences committed between the 12 drivers.
There was absolutely no defence for what they did, it was blatant deception which endagered other road users, so sorry your defence of the drivers trying to make a living does not wash with me.
The reason I took a great interest in the case was because of the fact it highlighted the Hour Guard Timers benefits of NOT letting a driver unknowingly break the law, this case arose about 1 year after the timer was launched so obviously I took a great interest in the case.
One thing I have learned is some companies are happy to let the drivers break the law, I could (but I’ll not) name 2 companies who had a Vosa investigation and suddenly purchased a large qty of timers to show that they were trying to keep drivers legal, one even asked for an invoice AND PAID for 60 timers despite us being out of stock for 3 weeks saying it was the end of the financial year, it then materialised in the transport press that the company was up in front of the Commissioners and provided the invoice as evidence they had purchased the timers and had made attempts to keep their drivers legal They are still running to this day 
Davey Driver and JJ72 I’m with you on this one, at least in the principle of what your saying. I only have the info I have read in the Truck Press about Oliver’s so cannot speak from any authority, but based on that the do deserve what they got.
Also when you read and hear of some of the accounts and cases that come before the TC, brough by VOSA I just make the observation that VOSA and the TC’s do seem rather easily led in accepting some of the very feeble excuses put forward by defendants for non compliance with the law.
CM:
Also when you read and hear of some of the accounts and cases that come before the TC, brough by VOSA I just make the observation that VOSA and the TC’s do seem rather easily led in accepting some of the very feeble excuses put forward by defendants for non compliance with the law.
hear hear CM, they do now seem to be wising up though - geoffrey sims and beverley bell in particular - in the past people have got away using the grown up equivalent of “the dog ate my homework” type excuses.
another thing everyone - especially the anti polish club, it is an absolute fact that UK drivers running bent has 100 times the effect on wages/conditions than if there were double the current amount of foreign drivers working in this country - think about that robinhood and others…