Trucker who cut lunch break short handed disqualification over record discrepancy
We absolutely do not condone anyone not completing their logbook properly.Craig McCulloch, AF Logistics chief executive Cutting short his half-hour lunch break by nine minutes led to truck driver Graham Ball being disqualified from driving trucks for one month.
Ball pleaded guilty in the Masterton District Court on Monday to producing a logbook that contained false information, and driving after working continuously for more than five-and-a-half hours, after being stopped by police in Greytown on November 18.
Ball's lawyer, Jock Blathwayt, told Judge Anne Gaskell that Ball admitted that he made a "complete error" that day, mistaking the time he read on the mobile phone that he used as a watch.
Mr Blathwayt said the GPS in Ball's truck showed that he had stopped for a 21-minute break, not the half hour he was required to by law.
Ball had begun work that day at 6.15am and the GPS showed he stopped for a break at 11.44am, before he resumed driving, Mr Blathwayt said.
However, he had mistakenly entered a half-hour break in his log book.
As the log book charge meant Ball faced a mandatory disqualification of his class four heavy traffic licence for one month, which meant he could not work during that time, Mr Blathwayt told Judge Gaskell that his client already faced a significant financial penalty.
