A HAULAGE company which flouted tachograph maintenance regulations has been ordered off the road.

North-East Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney yesterday revoked the operator's licence of M-Line, of Darlington, accusing bosses of "wilful and culpable neglect" in their running of the company.

The revocation applies from July 31, giving the 13-vehicle parcel delivery business less than a fortnight to sort out its affairs and make alternative arrangements.

Yesterday's disciplinary action came at the end of a public inquiry ordered by Mr Macartney, due to the number of maintenance and tachograph breaches by M-Line, which is based on Lingfield Industrial Estate.

The hearing was told that the company, also known as Apex Deliveries, and its drivers have notched up 16 convictions in the five years since it was formed.

Three prohibition notices have been issued about the condition of vehicles.

Thirteen drivers have been prosecuted for a range of offences, mostly flouting the tachograph conditions and falsely recording their hours at the wheel.

Problems peaked in June last year, when a Cleveland Police spot-check was carried out on one of M-Line's vehicles, which was stopped at Haverton Hill Road, Stockton.

PC Andy Worsey said that on opening the vehicle door, he found numerous tachograph charts, some of which "literally fell out" of the cab.

Others were lying on the floor, many damaged or dirty, and 20 were beyond the statutory 21 days old.

It led to a full check of the company, which PC Worsey said revealed "a lot of ignorance" about tachograph regulations among the drivers.

As a result, M-Line was fined £8,700 by Teesside magistrates in January, after admitting more than 80 tachograph and drivers' hours offences.

Shareholder and part-owner Mark Robinson conceded that the company had "failed its obligations quite seriously", but said new procedures had been implemented to prevent any repetition.

But, ordering the revocation, Mr Macartney told him: "There are multiple serious convictions: the tachograph offences, your vehicles were dangerous on the road. I regard this as gross neglect. It was wilful and culpable neglect."

The commissioner also issued goods' vehicle licence suspensions of between a week and a year on three of the M-Line drivers, including two who have since left the company.

After the hearing, Mr Robinson said that he was considering appealing against the decision.