Fines Totalling €15,000 for Two Road Haulage Operators in Breach of Road Safety and International Road Haulage Regulations

Following an investigation by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), two road haulage operators have been convicted for breaches of road safety and international road haulage regulations. Kilmoss Limited of Ballydrehid, Cahir, Co. Tipperary was before Cashel District Court on 27 April 2017. The company who operate a road transport business, pleaded guilty to a series of charges for failing to produce and handover records at the request of an RSA Transport Officer as well as charges for failing to ensure relevant checks were made in respect of driver’s hours and failing to ensure correct use of vehicle recording equipment.

The Court convicted and fined Kilmoss Limited a total of €9,500 and also made an award of costs against the company bringing the total sanction imposed to in excess of €10,000. The RSA investigation revealed serious and systematic non-compliance by this road transport operator in ensuring compliance with the European Communities (Road Transport)( Working Conditions and Road Safety) Regulations 2008.

Separately following a roadside inspection carried out by the RSA, NMC Haulage Limited of Dungannon, Co. Tyrone was before Drogheda District Court on 16 May 2017. The company were convicted and fined €5,000 for failing to produce Community Licence documentation to an RSA Transport Officer at a roadside checkpoint in Rathmullen, Co Louth last year, contrary to the European Union (International Road Haulage Market) Regulations 2011. The court also made an award of costs against the company bringing the total sanction imposed by the Court to €5,876.

Since October 2010, the RSA has successfully prosecuted 50 cases against both road transport operators and drivers for breaches of driver’s hours, tachograph and road transport operator licensing laws in Tipperary and since October 2015, 26 cases against road transport operators from Northern Ireland for breaches of these regulations.

EU Driver’s Hours Regulations require transport operators to organise and monitor driver’s work. It is the employer’s responsibility to prevent contraventions of the driver’s hour’s rules and to promote road safety. EU International Road Haulage Regulations requires authorised hauliers from other Member States who are transporting goods in Ireland to carry on board at all times and present for inspection Community licence documentation.

The EU tachograph and driver’s hour’s rules are designed to protect against driver fatigue and to protect the travelling public. The existence of the tachograph and driver’s hours regulations and the detailed requirements designed to promote road safety, are widely known by employers of heavy goods vehicle drivers.  Non-compliance with the driver’s hour’s regulations results in driver fatigue which is a contributory factor to 1 in 5 driver deaths in Ireland. Operators in breach of driver’s hour’s requirements are also profiting from undercutting compliant operators and contributing to unfair competition in the road haulage industry.

The RSA is working hard to make our roads safer. A more targeted approach towards enforcement is being implemented and those operators who are serially and seriously non-compliant are being targeted by the Authority and the Garda Síochána. The Authority tries to minimise disruption to the most compliant operators. A stepped approach to enforcement is applied by the RSA and only the most serious cases are taken to Court