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Bell calls for different TC to take over inquiry
Page 34
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A PUBLIC INQUIRY has been adjourned for a second time after North-Western Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell decided a different TC should take over because she lives close to the individuals involved.
Bell called for the adjournment at the end of the third day of an inquiry into Preston-based Stephen Slater.
In addition to consideration of action against the existing licence, there was an application for a licence for eight vehicles and eight trailers by SJ Slater Ltd to enable the company to take over the business.
On the first day of the hearing it was admitted that the limited company had been trading since 2004, illegally using Slater's sole trader licence. It hauled Irish trailers from Heysham Docks and the poor state of some trailers had led to a number of prohibitions.
Adjourning the proceedings at that stage, the TC granted the company interim authority for five vehicles and five trailers (CM 17 August).
Traffic examiner Keith Henry told the TC that although one of Slater's drivers had been prosecuted for falsifying tachograph records, there was no suggestion that Slater or the company was culpable.
Slater said he had not known it was necessary to apply for a new licence in the company's name. In reality there was no difference in the operation. A transport consultant had been employed to handle training and introduce new systems for compliance.
Asked why he had continued to operate artics after his licence had been cut to five vehicles and one trailer in July 2000, Slater said he had thought that an 0-licence for tractor units entitled him to tow trailers. The trailers concerned had not been his.