Posted by Marie Poppins on September 9, 2020 in Legal
Road transport lawyer and O licence application? In cases where a court hearing is necessary, we can prepare your case and go to court to fight for the return of your vehicle. Legal representation is strongly advised as, if unsuccessful, you may be liable for substantial costs. Reclaiming Seized Loads: Quite often, owners of cargos carried will have had no involvement in the transport arrangements; these details are often handled by a freight forwarder or haulier. If the vehicle carrying the load is seized, it is often possible for our team to quickly arrange the release, collection and onward delivery of the load. Once a vehicle is seized, we must act quickly: there are strictly enforced time limits which, if missed, can result in the permanent loss of the vehicle.
If you are invited to attend an interview under caution or placed under “caution” during an encounter or inspection then immediate legal advice is essential. You are fully entitled to ask that the interview is postponed or stopped to enable you to obtain legal advice. Even if you think that you have done nothing wrong, receiving good legal advice before answering any questions will always be in your interests: too many people have admitted offences in interview which were not part of the investigation. Importantly, you have the right to have representation at any interview and to refuse to answer questions where the DVSA or police fail to allow you access to your lawyers.
Welcome to Smith Bowyer Clarke. We provide, simple, straightforward, and practical legal solutions to all your transport problems. In the eyes of the law, the company is using the vehicle when being driven by an employee. The company can also be deemed to have permitted offences to occur by requesting an employee to use a vehicle which has a defect. The consequences could be the driver attaining penalty points and potentially losing their licence. This may in turn impact your business. For a sole trader, they themselves may end up with penalty points on their licence. For a limited company, there would still be costly fines. If the company also holds an Operator’s Licence, such convictions would need to be reported to the Traffic Commissioner and could then impact on the Repute of the Operator. Find more information on clandestine entrants fine.
The DVSA will probably send you a form PG13 which will detail the faults that they have found and will invite you to address them in writing before they consider reporting you to the Traffic Commissioner. Use this opportunity, it may not prevent you being called in for Public Inquiry but it will help demonstrate that you wish to be compliant and have taken or are going to take the necessary steps to do so. Your transport lawyer can assist you in preparing your responses, and can liaise with the DVSA on your behalf to try to put to rest any concerns they have. In many cases, a seemingly serious compliance failing can have a perfectly innocent explanation. Smith Bowyer Clarke have long experience in representing Operators, transport Managers and drivers in front of the Traffic Commissioner. Much of what we do involves helping to turn around Operators who are failing in their compliance. We have access to first rate consultants in a number of areas who can be trusted to give up to the minute advice. If you are worried why not give us a call.
Types of Tachograph Offences: The rules on tachographs are very strict. Below are some of the most common tachograph offences. Driving without a Driver’s card: Driving without a driver’s card in is a serious matter. The law draws a distinction between drivers who knowingly drive without their card in, and those who do so by accident. The former cases can carry up to two years in prison. This offence often arises when drivers pull their cards in an effort to hide the fact that they are exceeding their drivers’ hours. The DVSA / VOSA will want to investigate why this happened, and how far the vehicle travelled without a card in. They will also want to know whether any pressure was placed on a driver to pull their card. Read more information on Transportation Lawyer.