An illegal device found inside a north Wales driver's lorry sparked off an investigation into hauliers in north Wales, a public inquiry at Mold has been told.

Vehicle Inspectorate traffic examiner Mr Whitley and his colleague David Collings stopped Mr Edward John Williams, 56, of Glan-y-Wern, Rhuddlan, at Dunkirk in Cheshire in June 1998.

Discrepancies were found in the records, the lorry was checked and a cable was found which led to an illegal switch device hidden in the glove compartment.

Investigation

He admitted fitting it himself in 1995 and using it to "try and make the lorry pay".

Geoffrey Whitley was involved in an investigation between June 1998 and January this year.

Mr Whitley told Traffic Commissioner David Dixon he found devices wired to tachographs in many lorries operating in North Wales.

Wildfire

It emerged that 40% of the hauliers checked were found to be offending, either by fitting a device or pulling a fuse.

Defending solicitor Mr Steven Alis said that it was clear that his client was not the only one using the devices and word of them had spread like wildfire.

Mr Williams, who said he wanted to keep customers happy and survive in a competitive "jungle", had his heavy goods vehicle licence and operator's licence suspended for 14 days from 1 January onwards.

Excessive

Mr Williams had previously been fined �5,000 with �1,000 costs in the crown court after he admitted 25 charges of knowingly creating fake tachograph records.

The commissioner warned that tampering with the tachograph made the records useless and could hide drivers' hours offences.

This in turn could lead to excessive speed and fatigue which could result in accidents.