By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 13:58, Tuesday, 20 July 2010

A complex investigation by Cumbria police has led to 13 drivers working for a Northern Ireland haulage firm admitting falsifying their tachograph records.

The men who appeared at Carlisle Crown Court were all employed by Boyle Transport Ltd, a Newry company which has a fleet of 20 Scania trucks working throughout the UK and mainland Europe.

They were charged following a joint VOSA and police inquiry sparked by the seizure of five of the company’s wagons by the police in Penrith in October 2008.

Their bosses Patrick Boyle, 64, Mark Boyle, 35 and Neil Boyle, 29, all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to make the false tacho readings, saying they had no idea what their drivers were doing.

They also denied aiding and abetting the 15 drivers to falsify their records.

And Patrick Boyle, the managing director, also pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice by attempting to dispose of tachograph vehicle units.

All the charges related to alleged tachograph offences between November 2007 and November 2008, but no details of the alleged offences were given in court.

Those who admitted forging their tachograph records were: James Aird, 48, of Mountblow Road, Clydebank; Andrew Bain, 63, of Coronation Place, Garthcosh, Glasgow; John McKieve Barrow, 42, of Scavaig Crescent, Glasgow; Alexander Bell, 54, of Stuich Lochearnhead Lodge, Lochearnhead, Perthshire; Andrew Boyce, 51, of Penilee Terrace, Glasgow; William Brophy, 62, of Fraser Street, Cleland, Motherwell; Christopher David Chapman, 43, of Billhazelton, Kirkpatrick Fleming; Jeffrey Daniel, 43, Longtail Cottage, Middleton Tyas, Richmond, Yorkshire; James Fletcher Drury, 43, of Mill Walk, Cambuslang, Glasgow; Wilfred Brydon Howat 66, of Grieve Walk, Heathhall, Dumfries; Stefan Metthias Mainka, 43, of Kerr Drive, Glasgow; Leslie Robert Marshall, 50, of Stonefield Road, Blantyre, Glasgow; James Miller, 39, of Kerr Drive, Glasgow; Johnathon William James Orr, 45, of Cunninghame Road, Kilbarchan, Johnstone, Renfrewshire; and Graham Edward Pier, 52, of Coleman Crescent, Ramsgate, Kent.

The drivers were all released on bail and will be sentenced at the end of the trial of their employers.

First published at 11:24, Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk