A HEREFORDSHIRE lorry driver who fiddled the tachograph on his 44-tonne truck so he could drive longer hours has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Alan Reynolds, a lorry driver for 36 years, took out the driver's card on his articulated tarmac delivery lorry a number of times during the summer of last year, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Olivia Maginn, prosecuting for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, told the court an investigation revealed Reynolds, of Bridge Street, Kington, had gone "off the card" and manually recorded that he had a taken longer breaks than he had.

Lorry drivers are only permitted to drive for four-and-a-half hours without a break of 45 minutes, she said. During July, August and September last year, the records showed that Reynolds had driven an hour and 50 minutes longer than he should have on one occasion, though most of the offences were for a much shorter period.

Miss Maginn said the tracker device fitted to the lorry kept records of the time and distance it had been driven and it revealed the offences.

Reynolds pleaded guilty to 15 charges of knowingly making false entries on the tachograph.

The company he worked for at the time, N.R. Parsons, of Bridgend, pleaded guilty in magistrates court to permitting the offences and was fined a total of £15,000 with £934 costs.

Miss Maginn said the company had not been aware of the offending and Reynolds had not been put under pressure by his employers. He had not made any money in the form of overtime or bonuses.

Jason Aris, defending, said Reynolds accepted his guilt and was genuinely remorseful. He had wanted to work as much as he could to save time for his employers but had now lost his job and faced the prospect of finding a different kind of work at the age of 57, Mr Aris said.

Judge Nicholas Cole said Reynolds had been driving one of the largest lorries on the road and had deliberately flouted the regulations "in a brazen manner" by removing the tachograph card.

"You breached the limits which are imposed for the safety of the public to ensure drivers are not tired," he said. "The risk to other road users is obvious."

Reynolds was given a jail sentence of six months suspended for 12 months and ordered to do 160 hours of unpaid work. He will also have to pay £1,650 towards costs.