A coach operator has had its fleet cut from 91 to just 35 vehicles following a Public Inquiry with the Traffic Commissioner for the North of England. The operator’s staff were subject of a long trial over false tachograph records earlier in the year and the operator was invited to a Public Inquiry in Leeds after a number of drivers admitted creating false tachograph records. The Traffic Commissioner also attached a number of undertakings to the firm's licence including an audit of the drivers' hours and tachograph records every six months by a suitably qualified body. The Traffic Commissioner said that falsifying tachograph records “hides potentially serious abuses of the drivers' hours rules' and that research shows that between one in five and one in six deaths on the extra-urban road network is caused by a driver who is asleep at the time.” Technology such as Descartes Smartanalysis, tachograph analysis software, exists to help operators of all sizes manage their compliance with drivers’ hours and tachograph regulations from just 25p per driver per working day. Find out more. Source Northumberland Gazette