By David Forsythe
An agricultural haulage company and a driver employed by the company have both been fined in the district court for failing to comply with EU tachograph regulations.
The prosecutions were brought by the National Transport Authority (NTA) against Daly Agrifarm Ltd. of Ballydekin House, Midleton, Co. Cork and driver, Andrew Shanahan of Inch, Whitegate, Co. Cork.
State solicitor Frank Nyhan representing the NTA said that Daly Agrifarm and Andrew Shanahan were both charged with failing to use the tachograph driver card on August 18, 19 and 20, 2023.
Tacograph
Under EU and Irish law, trucks must be fitted with recording devices known as tachographs.
Their function is to record the driving times, breaks and rest periods of individual drivers, vehicle speed, distance travelled and other data.
Drivers have their own ‘credit-card-style’ cards to insert into the machines while they are working to record their individual data.
Giving evidence, Aidan Tierney, an inspector with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) told Midleton District Court that an articulated truck operated by Daly Agrifarm Ltd. was stopped at a checkpoint on the N77 in Co. Laois on April 20, 2024.
The truck was transporting hay and the tachograph showed that the driver, Andrew Shanahan, had only inserted his card when the inspector approached.
Further investigation showed that the truck had been used for deliveries for three days without the driver card to destinations in Kildare.
The RSA inspector said that agricultural deliveries were exempt from the rules but only within a 100km radius of the operator’s home base and the Daly Agrifarm vehicle had been operating well beyond that distance.
Haulage company
Defence solicitor for Daly Agrifarm, Daithi O’Donnabhain said that his client accepted the facts presented to the court.
He said that his client was disposing of hay that had been severely affected by the bad weather and was effectively “a mushroom farm”.
He said that the driver had acted without his client’s knowledge but Daly Agrifarm did accept they were also responsible for the breach of the rules.
Andrew Shanahan told the court that he had since left the company and was working as a driver elsewhere.
Judge Colm Roberts said that the company and the driver were both responsible. He said it was the company’s responsibility to manage and oversee its staff and it was also the driver’s responsibility to act within the law.
He fined Daly Agrifarm Ltd. €1,000 allowing two months to pay and he also fined Andrew Shanahan €1,000 allowing two months to pay.