Kerry coach tour company convicted on five charges

A coach tour company in Killarney has been convicted on five charges, including failing to provide tachograph records.

Dero’s Coach Tours Ltd, of Main Street, Killarney, Co Kerry, pleaded guilty to five counts at Killarney District Court.

They included three counts of causing or authorising driver and employee Anthony McLarnon, of Laurel House, Meentogues, Headford, Rathmore, Co Kerry, to make use of another driver’s card on three occasions, on September 23rd, October 22nd and October 23rd, 2013.

The company also pleaded guilty to failing to organise Mr McLarnon’s work to enable him to have sufficient rest period, on October 23rd, 2013.

Dero's Coach Tours also pleaded guilty to failing to produce or hand over record sheets to an officer of the Road Safety Authority (RSA) on February 18th, 2014, for various dates in July 2013.

The summonses were brought by the RSA under the European Communities, Road Transport, Working Conditions and Road Safety regulations.

Jim Fleming, a Road Safety Authority transport officer, gave evidence of how on October 23rd, 2013, at Muckross House, Killarney, on the N71, he inspected a company coach.

He ejected the driver’s card from the tachograph and also viewed the driver’s licence.

“The driver had used somebody else’s driver’s card,” Mr Fleming told Judge James O’Connor.

Mr Fleming said he interviewed Dero's Coach Tours transport manager Denis Spillane on February 18th, 2014.

Mr Spillane confirmed that Mr McLarnon was employed by the company on that day.

An inspection of tachograph records revealed that the driver used other drivers’ cards on two other occasions and had failed to take the required rest period, Mr Fleming said in evidence.

‘No explanation’

Mr Fleming also said that between July 2nd and 23rd, 2013, 2,482km was unaccounted for in tachograph records, “and the company had no explanation”.

State solicitor Ed O’Sullivan, prosecuting, said at the outset that the RSA was proceeding on five of eleven summonses against Dero’s Coach Tours Ltd.

Summonses against two individuals, Mr Spillane and Mr McLarnon, were being withdrawn, the solicitor said.

The company had no previous convictions and the maximum fine on each count was €5,000, with full discretion to mitigate, Mr O’Sullivan told Judge James O’Connor.

Solicitor for Dero’s Coach Tours, Padraig O’Connell, said the directors Denis Spillane and Catherine O’Sullivan were in court, and that there had been full cooperation.

Dero’s Coach Tours was founded in 1955 by Ms O’Sullivan’s father. It was a seasonal tourist business and employed 35 people.

"The rules and regulations put logic on its head," said Mr O'Connell, adding that at times the company had driven a driver to Donegal to facilitate a change of drivers.

New systems were now in place and the company was 100 per cent in compliance.

“We are dealing with very decent people. The red tape is strangling these people on a daily basis,” the solicitor said.

Judge James O’Connor imposed convictions on the five counts. He imposed a fine of €300 on the charge of failing to produce records and he imposed a €200 fine on the company for causing or authorising Anthony McLarnon to make use of another driver’s card.

The three other counts were taken into consideration.