Trucker jailed for tachograph fraud

A NORTH Cumbrian haulier who created false records so he could illegally spend longer driving his HGV than was allowed has been jailed.

Over a two-year period, Grant Michael Ivinson, 33, falsely attributed hours that he was working behind the wheel of his Scania lorry to another man so that he could regularly exceed his permitted driving hours.

At Carlisle Crown Court, the defendant, from Scaleby, north of Carlisle, admitted 12 tachograph offences and asked for a further 90 similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Kim Whittleston, prosecuting, said the deception came to light when officials from the DVSA (Driver Vehicle Standards Authority) checked the defendant’s tachograph records.

An investigation of those records, spanning 2018 to 2020, showed that Ivinson had submitted tachograph records which claimed falsely that another man was driving his HGV when in fact it was the defendant.

Officials confirmed that the man whose name was on dozens of the records had actually been working elsewhere at the time.

The purpose of the system, said Miss Whittlestone, was to ensure that lorry drivers did not working excessively long hours and to enforce proper rest periods.

“It’s necessary for the protection of other road users as well as for the protection of the drivers themselves,” said the barrister.

A pattern of falsified records had emerged when investigators checked on the whereabouts of the second driver whose name was submitted on records by Ivinson.

“[The second named driver] worked in a factory and did shift work,” said Miss Whittlestone. “A rota was produced and it was clear that he could not be in two places at once.”

When challenged about the tachograph records, the defendant immediately confessed, telling the investigator: “To be honest, I’ve messed up big-style.”

The man whose named Ivinson had claimed was his second driver knew nothing about the false records, added the barrister. The defendant was keen to point this out and did not want to get the man into trouble.

On some days, the records showed, Ivinson was exceeding his permitted daily driving limit by five or six hours.

Helen Newbold, defending, said Ivinson was an “owner-driver” who acted out of desperation to keep his business going in difficult times. The man whose tachograph card he used was not employed as a driver.

That tachograph card had been inadvertently left in the defendant’s Scania truck on the dashboard, said the barrister.

“The defendant intended to return it but unfortunately failed to do so,” said Miss Newbold. “The first occasion when he used the card was in 2018 because he was running out of time on his own card.

“His wife was desperately ill at home. Out of sheer desperation he used the card, knowing it was wrong.”

But realising how easy it was to do that, he simply kept on using the card. “This was about keeping the company operating in difficult times,” said Miss Newbold. A professional driver since he was 22, Ivinson was now facing the likelihood of losing his HGV licence and his livelihood.

The barrister added: “He has expressed genuine remorse for what he has done.”

Recorder Paul Hodgkinson told the defendant: “You used someone else’s details in order to effectively ‘top up’ the time you were allowed on the road in your big three-axel heavy goods vehicle.”

The tachograph system was designed to protect road users and passengers from drivers of larger vehicles whose tiredness and fatigue may cause accidents and death, said the judge. “You flagrantly ignored those regulations,” the Recorder told Ivinson.

The judge said Ivinson was “financially motivated.”

The Recorder added: “I find that you intentionally placed the public and road users at significant risk due to your actions over a sustained period of time.”

Jailing the defendant for nine months, Recorder Hodgkinson said only immediate custody was appropriate, though he declined to impose costs, recognising that the defendant and his family now face financial hardship.