Bus bosses jailed for fake papers
Greg Sutherland
19:45 GMT, Friday, 4 July 2008 20:45 UK
Bus bosses jailed for fake papers
Vincenzo Casale and David Ellis (Pic courtesy of GMP)
Two bus firm directors who lied about the hours their drivers worked
following a crash in which a 28-year-old man died have been jailed.
Martin Pilling, of Worsley, died when his cherry-picker was involved in
a crash with a bus in Rusholme, Manchester in 2006.
Vincenzo Casale and David Ellis both admitted at Manchester Crown Court
to conspiring to defraud.
The directors of UK North and GM Buses Enterprises were jailed for 15
months.
Casale, 44, of Meadowfield Close, Glossop, was also banned from being a
company director for the next 10 years and Ellis, 37, of Southfield
Close, Dukinfield, Greater Manchester, was similarly banned for the next
five years.
Regulations ignored
Ernesto Casale, 45, of Moorfield Drive, Newton, who was also charged
with conspiring to create false documents had his charge put on file.
Following the fatal crash in November 2006, police arrested the driver
of the bus, 47-year-old Krzysztof Ociepa, who worked for UK North
Enterprises Ltd.
He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but the case was
dismissed by a judge.
The death - now subject to an ongoing inquest - resulted in an
investigation by the traffic watchdog which led to GM Buses and UK North
being ordered to take their entire fleet off the road over safety fears.
"This investigation has highlighted the unscrupulous working practices
of these directors. They had a total disregard for working conditions"
Sgt Alan Johnson
Cherry-picker in accident (Pic courtesy of MEN Syndication)
During the course of the investigation, officers discovered 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.
The inquiry also revealed that 27 of the 130 drivers employed by the
firm had been in breach of their fortnightly rest. The worst case saw a
driver working a total of 31 days without a rest.
At a public inquiry held by the Traffic Commissioner in December 2006,
the directors produced false duty rosters in an attempt to discredit the
findings and to deceive the commissioner into thinking drivers had been
sticking to regulations.
Sgt Alan Johnson, of Greater Manchester Police's traffic section, said:
"This investigation has highlighted the unscrupulous working practices
of these directors.
"They had a total disregard for working conditions."
Chris D
"Greg Sutherland" <gregsut...@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
news:486ed149$0$3087$5a62...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
> BBC NEWS / MANCHESTER
> 19:45 GMT, Friday, 4 July 2008 20:45 UK
>
> Bus bosses jailed for fake papers
> Vincenzo Casale and David Ellis (Pic courtesy of GMP)
>
> Two bus firm directors who lied about the hours their drivers worked
> following a crash in which a 28-year-old man died have been jailed.
I've seen and heard of many similar dodgy work practises like manipulating
time sheets from one 16 hour job into two 8 hour shifts and locomotives
working with a lack of safety equipment with some of the smaller rail
operators in NSW, I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar prosecutions
being made in NSW one day.
Chris
C. Dewick
I'm aware of a case where a crew worked a total of 17 hours in one shift,
including 11 hours on the train, and the remaining 6 hours driving a crew
vehicle back to Sydney.
I don't know the complete specific details but I do know that the fact the
crewed worked such a grossly-excessive number of hours was overlooked by
management of the particular rail company involved as part of 'getting the
job done'. 8-)
It's doubtful CityRail would every try a stunt like that but I am betting
some of the freight operators try it on from time to time.
Craig.
--
Craig Dewick - HO-Scale Railway Modeller and Professional Train Manager at
http://lios.apana.org.au/~craigd or cra...@lios.apana.org.au if you're game!
RailZone Australia - http://www.railzone.org - No Fundies! No RailCorp CodeCon!
http://lios.apana.org.au/mailman/listinfo/aus_rail_safety for Oz Rail Safety
Chris D
"C. Dewick" <cra...@lios.apana.org.au> wrote in message
news:g4mrh4$opo$1...@yoda.apana.org.au...
> "Chris D" <Chr...@nomail.com.au> writes:
>
>>"Greg Sutherland" <gregsut...@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
>>news:486ed149$0$3087$5a62...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>>> BBC NEWS / MANCHESTER
>>> 19:45 GMT, Friday, 4 July 2008 20:45 UK
>>>
>>> Bus bosses jailed for fake papers
>>> Vincenzo Casale and David Ellis (Pic courtesy of GMP)
>>>
>>> Two bus firm directors who lied about the hours their drivers worked
>>> following a crash in which a 28-year-old man died have been jailed.
>
>>I've seen and heard of many similar dodgy work practises like manipulating
>>time sheets from one 16 hour job into two 8 hour shifts and locomotives
>>working with a lack of safety equipment with some of the smaller rail
>>operators in NSW, I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar prosecutions
>>being made in NSW one day.
>
> I'm aware of a case where a crew worked a total of 17 hours in one shift,
> including 11 hours on the train, and the remaining 6 hours driving a crew
> vehicle back to Sydney.
>
> I don't know the complete specific details but I do know that the fact the
> crewed worked such a grossly-excessive number of hours was overlooked by
> management of the particular rail company involved as part of 'getting the
> job done'. 8-)
>
> It's doubtful CityRail would every try a stunt like that but I am betting
> some of the freight operators try it on from time to time.
>
Hi Craig,
I've seen similar and heard about many others too. I remember one incident
some time ago when I assisted a failed train from a small NSW operator. The
crew were on duty for a total of 23 hours by the time they signed off and
this time was at the controls of a train. It surprises me that RailCorp and
ARTC control don't confirm the train crew details and sign on times, as one
would have thought that as the network owners and controllers, they would
have a duty of care to ensure all crew details and not allow or turn a blind
eye to breaches of the rail safety act.
Chris
Chris D
>
>>"Greg Sutherland" <gregsut...@ozemail.com.au> wrote in message
>>news:486ed149$0$3087$5a62...@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>>> BBC NEWS / MANCHESTER
>>> 19:45 GMT, Friday, 4 July 2008 20:45 UK
>>>
>>> Bus bosses jailed for fake papers
>>> Vincenzo Casale and David Ellis (Pic courtesy of GMP)
>>>
>>> Two bus firm directors who lied about the hours their drivers worked
>>> following a crash in which a 28-year-old man died have been jailed.
>
>>I've seen and heard of many similar dodgy work practises like manipulating
>>time sheets from one 16 hour job into two 8 hour shifts and locomotives
>>working with a lack of safety equipment with some of the smaller rail
>>operators in NSW, I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar prosecutions
>>being made in NSW one day.
>
> I'm aware of a case where a crew worked a total of 17 hours in one shift,
> including 11 hours on the train, and the remaining 6 hours driving a crew
> vehicle back to Sydney.
>
> I don't know the complete specific details but I do know that the fact the
> crewed worked such a grossly-excessive number of hours was overlooked by
> management of the particular rail company involved as part of 'getting the
> job done'. 8-)
Craig,
Long hours at work aren't just a problem is NSW either;
Qld, QR under fire over workers' excessive hours
ABC News Qld 07 July 2008
The Rail, Tram and Bus Union has accused Queensland Rail (QR) of ignoring
the safety of its workers by forcing them to work excessive hours.
Spokesman Owen Doogan says three rail workers recently worked 18-hour shifts
while carrying out track maintenance at Biloela, in central Queensland.
He says the track had to be reopened and the men were forced to keep working
because QR had no available replacements, and despite assurances it keeps
happening.
"Only a few weeks ago we brought the issue up about some workers [who]
worked 29 hours near Caboolture," he said.
"All we got from management was to say that we disciplined the people who
allowed that to occur and lo and behold, a few weeks later the same thing is
happening."
A Queensland Rail spokeswoman says it does not condone staff working
excessive hours and the claims will be investigated.
David Johnson
>
> I'm aware of a case where a crew worked a total of 17 hours in one shift,
> including 11 hours on the train, and the remaining 6 hours driving a crew
> vehicle back to Sydney.
That's nothing. I was on a train once where the crew signed on at
06:30. The 2nd person was relieved at 04:30 the next day and was so
exhausted he kept falling over when applying handbrakes. The relief
then drove the train while the driver slept in the cab until 08:30 where
the train terminated. Nothing like a 26 hour shift.
--
---
Droughts are because God didn't pay his water bill.
---
David Johnson
usenet.at.trainman.id.au
http://www.trainman.id.au
------------------------------------
These comments are made in a private
capacity and do not represent the
official view of RailCorp.