5:19pm Saturday 5th July 2008
Two bus company directors involved in a plot to fake details of driver's hours have been jailed.
Their offending came to light after a road traffic collision in which a 27-year-old man died after his cherry-picker crane was in collision with a double-decker bus.
Martin Pilling, of East Moor Road, Worsley, died when he was knocked from the basket of the crane into the path of the bus, following the collision on Wilmslow Road, Rusholme on Wednesday 1 November 2006.
The directors of UK North and GM Buses Enterprises Ltd, Vincenzo Casale, 44, of Meadowfield Close, Glossop, and David Michael Ellis, 37, of Southfield Close, Dukinfield, both pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to conspiring to create false documents.
They were each sentenced to 15 months in prison yesterday.
Casale has also been banned from being a company director for the next 10 years and Ellis has been similarly banned for the next five years.
Following the fatal crash, GMP arrested the driver of the bus, who worked for UK North Enterprises Ltd and he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but the case was dismissed by a judge.
The death is now subject to an ongoing inquest.
During the course of the investigation officers discovered that the driver had been working for 19 days without a rest when the collision occurred.
Under UK driving regulations, drivers must take a minimum of 24 hours rest in any two-week period.
GMP and Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) launched a joint investigation that resulted in a warrant being executed at the company's bus depot in Gorton on 4 November 2006.
The investigation revealed the company employed 130 bus drivers, most of which were foreign.
As the probe continued concern grew that the company was jeopardising public safety by allowing a large number of drivers to drive for days without a rest.
As a result officers then executed further search warrants on 24 November 2006.
Among a large amount of documents, computers, hardware, memory sticks and CDs, officers found computer records that showed that 27 drivers had been in breach of their fortnightly rest.
The worst case saw a driver working a total of 31 days without a rest.
These findings were passed to the North West Traffic Area Commissioner who called the company to a public inquiry, which was subsequently held on 22 December 2006.
During the inquiry the firm's solicitors produced a bundle of evidence which they claimed refuted the investigation's findings.
The company produced false duty rosters in an attempt to discredit the findings and to deceive the Traffic Commissioner into thinking drivers had been sticking to driving hours regulations.
When these false documents came to light, the operator's licence was suspended due to the poor running of the company, including a lack of driver training and poor vehicle maintenance.
Sergeant Alan Johnson, of GMP's traffic section, said: "This investigation has highlighted the unscrupulous working practices of these directors.
"They had a total disregard for working conditions, allowing many of their drivers to work for days and days with a period of rest.
"This prosecution shows that GMP will work together with VOSA to expose working practices that exploit employees and put people's lives at risk."
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