absolutely spot on davey, if a driver didn’t return his tacho cards after doing a job then the boss should not have paid him (or maybe that is what happened).
most companies now insist that agencies return tacho cards that relate to the employed persons work before they will pay the bill.
the employer should have reported the driver for failing to return the charts as soon as he realised that he was not going to get them, the employee/driver has a responsibility to return the charts to the employer.
this is all well and good getting yet another cowboy operator off the road but what about the many other cowboy operators that are now over here enmass, the foriegn cowboys.
i read in commercial motor the other week of a foriegn driver that had a number of tacho offences and was unable to pay the fine.
they sentenced him to be locked up in police cells for 24 hours and then released.
i can just see it now, he gets back and tells his mates all about this nice police station cell that is bigger than the truck cab, where the police call by 3 times a day with food, it has ensuite toilet facilities, meanwhile he was able to leave his truck in a secure compound free of charge while the police took full responsibility for it and the load.
he’s coming back next month but this time he’s bringing his wife, kids and mother in law, he’s told them it’s a package holiday.