News

Vehicle maintenance problems, along with drivers' hours and tachograph breaches, have resulted in two of the three operational vehicles belonging to Dunfermline-based Ronald Mentiplay, trading as Murray Mentiplay, being suspended for eight weeks, and his LGV driving licence for four. Mentiplay appeared before the Scottish Traffic Commissioner Joan Aitken. He blamed a failure to produce tachograph records on their being eaten by his son Gary's dog, which had died as a result of ingesting them.  

The TC was told that five immediate and four delayed prohibitions had been issued since 2002. There had been five refusal to clear and variation notices. Mentiplay was required to produce charts for 7 August to 29 November, which he did following a reminder. An analysis of those charts revealed 3,243 kilometres missing, and he claimed these charts had been destroyed by the dog.

However, analysis of the 228 charts produced revealed a number of breaches. Mentiplay admitted his operation had become sloppy and an edge of professionalism had been lost. He said the inspection frequency was being reduced to eight weeks and his son would take the CPC examination. Mentiplay added would be joining the RHA and had been updating himself on drivers' hours rules.

The dog was kept overnight in the porch where it knocked down a box containing the tachograph charts. The following morning, he claimed, it was found dead, surrounded by chewed-up charts. The TC said traffic commissioners  heard many explanations for missing charts but she found "tacho charts killed Gary's dog" difficult to accept. Aitken said she always bore in mind that life was stranger than fiction however, if the charts had been kept in proper order and produced on the traffic examiner's first request, she would never have had to hear the tale of Gary's dog and its demise.

The TC did not want to put Mentiplay out of business, as there were signs he had woken up after being sloppy and lax, but she could not ignore the licence breaches.