Thirteen HGV drivers were found guilty of tachograph fraud during a large Police Operation that took place in November in Aalter in Belgium.   

In total fifty five HGVs were stopped and inspected by the police.  Thirteen drivers were found to be at fault and that included six that had placed a magnet on the propeller in order to record a rest period on their digital tachograph while driving. Four had falsified their holiday records, two were driving with another driver's card, and another one had separated the tachograph from the propeller so that the device couldn’t record any data at all.

The operation was carried out by twenty five federal police tachograph fraud experts and two members of the Dutch police.

The Federal Road Police in Belgium is sending a strong message to Transport Operators that drivers’ hours and tachograph fraud will not be tolerated and this will give positive reinforcement for firms and drivers who respect the law.

In addition to the thirteen instances of tachograph fraud, fourteen other offences were reported and fines amounting to 51,671 euros were issued to offenders.

The authorities in the UK would take a very dim view of these offences so it is good to see robust enforcement of the regulations in other countries in the EU.

(Source: Belga)