Charity cyclists' deaths: Fry's Logistics 'put profit before law'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-34859595

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A lorry firm whose driver caused the death of two charity cyclists "put profit before the law", a licence hearing was told.

Andrew McMenigall and Toby Wallace were killed near Newquay in July 2013 by lorry driver Robert Palmer.

Traffic Commissioner Sarah Bell said Fry's Logistics disregarded rules on when drivers should take breaks.

The firm was disqualified from holding an operator's licence for 10 years.

Company director Mark Fry showed a "reprehensible approach to road safety", Ms Bell said.

Palmer, 32, from Grimscott near Bude in Cornwall, was jailed for eight and a half years in September 2014 after pleading guilty at Truro Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

At a hearing in Bristol on Monday, Ms Bell said Fry's Logistics breached drivers' hours rules consistently.

In a written judgment she said Mr Fry was "knowingly sending his driver out to drive when he had not had sufficient rest".

Felicity Hine, solicitor for the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, told the hearing: "It would appear that the importance of profit for the company supersedes issues of compliance and road safety."

Fry's Logistics and Mr Fry are disqualified from holding an operator's licence for 10 years and Mr Fry is disqualified from acting as a transport manager for 10 years.

He did not attend the hearing but said his company would be appealing against the ruling.

The national cycling charity CTC questioned why it had taken 28 months to revoke the licence.

Duncan Dollimore from CTC said Fry's Logistics have "been able to carry on trading, putting road users at risk while the enforcement process has progressed at a snail's pace".