Waste disposal firm penalised for drivers’ hours offences

Posted by AndrewT on 11th Oct 2013

Scotland's Traffic Commissioner, Joan Aitkin ruled on 3 October that Dow Waste Management will be prevented from expanding for 12 months. The company’s operations are to be limited, because of drivers’ hours offences and the firm's failure to deal with them. Government inspectors uncovered drivers' hours offences that included false record keeping and exceeding 4.5 hours driving without taking the required break. An examiner from VOSA (Vehicle and Operator Services Agency) said that it had been difficult to obtain all the required documents from the company.

 "A fundamental part of working time and driving is the need to take breaks and to be refreshed as such," said Miss Aitken. "These drivers working in waste and with skips do need to be alert – I have seen to many cases of accidents flowing from poor decision making by skip drivers – and they need to be alert to other road users."

Two drivers will be suspended from driving HGVs for three weeks in October, while the third will face a 10-day suspension.