A LIVESTOCK lorry driver fiddled his 'spy in the cab' tachograph so he could work for up to 85 hours at a time, a court heard.

Jason Treharne, 43, used another man's digital driver card as well as his own to make it look as though the truck was being driven by two different people, Gloucester crown court was told

Treharne who worked for Gilders Transport of Winchcombe admitted nine charges of making false driver records.

Making use of another driver's card enabled him to work continuously for much longer periods than the law allows - in one case 85 hours 12 minutes and in another 24 hours 25 minutes, the court heard.

Judge Ian Lawrie QC told him he had put both human and animal lives at risk because he could have fallen asleep at any time and crashed his truck with disastrous results.

The judge also questioned whether Gilders Transport should also have been in court.

He said: "You don't need me to tell you that what you were doing posed considerable dangers both to the livestock you were carrying and more importantly other road users.

"Fatigue is a killer. If you had fallen asleep at the wheel your lorry could have done a lot of damage to other road users .

"You cut corners to get the job done and to keep everyone happy and you did it by deception to hide what you were doing.

"It would be fully justified if I were to send you straight to prison. But I shall take a more compassionate course as you are of previous good character and this all happened two years ago."

Regarding Gilders Transport the judge said: "Mr Treharne is a foot soldier. What about the company in charge of him?" "They would have known he was not keeping to his tachograph hours. So why is the company not here?"

He was told the company may well face action from the transport regulators but they have not been prosecuted. Other drivers who had committed similar offences had also been charged, the prosecution said.

"Perhaps the company should be organising things better so they are not in that predicament," the judge said.

David Thomas, defending, said company representatives were at court to support Treharne 'because they do feel, to an extent, some responsibility.'

He said that since the offences in 2014 the company had installed expensive specialist equipment to analyse each and every tachograph and ensure the same practice could not happen again.

Mr Thomas said Treharne was not driving non stop during the periods when he also used another driver's card - he was taking rest breaks but not as many as required by law.

Passing sentence, the judge said "I am relieved to hear that your employers have now put in place steps to ensure other drivers do not commit this sort of offence. The company should have kept a better grip."

The judge sentenced Treharne, of Derwandeg, Porthrhyd, Carmarthen, to a six months jail term suspended for a year and fined him £500.