Jailed: Telford truck boss helped to falsify drivers' mileages

Stephen Holding won multi-million pound contracts with Severn Trent Water and a firm which supplied VIP boxes for glitzy sporting events like the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and the Isle of Man TT race.

The self made father-of-two built his two companies from nothing to employing nearly 200 members of staff at their height, and became well known in Telford for his charity work.

But behind closed doors he "aided and abetted" his drivers to falsify records of their hours of work and rest periods, Shrewsbury Crown Court was told.

A seven-month investigation into his two firms – SP Holding Tractor Hire and SP Holding Services Ltd – from January to July 2012 found nearly 150 breaches of the law.

In one example read out in court a timesheet revealed a driver was at work and out on the road from 4.30am to 8.30pm in a single day.

But his tachograph – a digital card in each lorry which tracks the amount of time drivers are out – had been altered to show he only worked from 6am to 7.40pm, the court was told.

Mr Timothy Harrington, prosecuting, said tacograph cards would be removed from vehicles altogether, creating an impression they were not out on the road when in fact drivers were out working.

He said drivers would also use cards belonging to other workers to create the impression there had been a change-over.

"Stephen Holding convinced these drivers to break the law by working unlawful hours," the prosecutor told the court.

"He created an atmosphere where drivers would be made to work unlawful hours. The inference was made that they would lose their jobs if they did not comply.

"Drivers had to work really long hours and forge records, or they would simply be replaced by others who would."

The court heard police and traffic investigators moved in to seize documents and start investigations after a former employee raised concerns about its business practices in the middle of 2012.

Ten of the company's drivers have admitted falsifying records at Telford Magistrates Court since the investigation.

"Their mitigation, in effect, was that they were being told to do this at risk of losing their jobs," Mr Harrington said.

"The benefit of doing what he did was that he did not need to employ as many drivers to fulfil the contracts.

"Had he employed more drivers he would have had to buy more vehicles, and it would have cost his company more."

Holding, 48, of Moreton Coppice in Telford, had pleaded guilty to a raft of offences at a previous court hearing and appeared at court yesterday to be sentenced.

As the owner and director of SP Holding Services Ltd Holding, a former Company of the Year award winner at the Shropshire Business Awards, had also tendered guilty pleas on behalf of the company on two charges relating to the false drivers' records.

Judge Peter Barrie agreed to delay passing sentence on the company until the results of a proceeds of crime hearing later in the year.

Mr Nicholas Walker, for Holding, said new systems had been put in place at the two firms, including bringing in an independent monitoring company, to ensure the same thing did not happen again.

He said the company still had 38 employees and claimed the business would "likely fail" if Holding was sent to prison.

Mr Walker told the court: "He was not formally educated, through hard work he built his business from almost nothing to employing 180 employees at its height.

"The business expanded too fast and Stephen Holding himself was ill-equipped to deal with that.

"A desire to not let down the businesses he had contracts with was the motivator here.

"Greed and money are not at the heart of this offending.

"He had a modest upbringing and is not able to read and write at all well.

"The desire to prove himself, and to carry on proving himself, led to his inability to say no.

"He should have employed more people. But this is not a flashy individual."

Sentencing Holding, Judge Peter Barrie said he had no option but to impose a custodial sentence.

"This was a serious and systematic breach of tacograph regulations over the seven-month period that was examined for the purpose of this case," the judge said.

"Your company was being run in complete defiance of tacograph regulations that exist for the purpose of protecting the safety of road users - including your own drivers - and the obvious dangers that come from being over tired."

Holding's ex-wife Tracey Smith, 48, of Wellington Road, Horsehay, Telford, also pleaded guilty to offences as the company secretary in charge of paying drivers.

But Judge Barrie accepted she had played a lesser role.

He told her she "must have known" about the breaches of tacograph regulations but accepted her ex-husband was the driving force.

She was spared jail – and sentenced instead to a 12-month community order to include 100 hours of unpaid work.