A father and son who ran a Suffolk coach company have been given suspended prison sentences and ordered to pay thousands of pounds in costs for falsifying their driving hours.

Ian Trussler who ran Goldline Taxis and his father Kenneth Trussler, who was described as a “sleeping partner” in the business, both admitted two offences of making false records dating back to 2008.

Ian Trussler, 40, of Killick Crescent, Carlton Colville, was given a three-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £25,500 costs and his 67-year-old father, of Yarmouth Road, Broome, near Bungay, was given a six-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £18,200 prosecution costs. Sentencing the men at Ipswich Crown Court, Judge John Holt said Ian Trussler had falsified his driving hours while covering a gap in a driver’s hours on a trip to Bruges in Belgium and on another occasion he had falsified a record of his hours to bring a bus back from Great Yarmouth to Beccles.

He said Kenneth Trussler had falsified his driving hours on a trip to Bruges and on another occasion there had been a discrepancy in his mileage records.

Sentencing the men, the judge said: “These records are important because if a driver goes over his hours there is a danger to passengers and other road users from the driver of the bus driving over-tired.”

An investigation was carried out after a member of the public complained about the number of hours worked by a driver on a trip abroad with the defendants’ company.

Jonathan Turner, for Ian Trussler, said his client felt “absolute remorse and shame”.

Mr Turner said the business had a good standing in the local community and was used by the local council to transport children to school.