Time runs out for tipperman
Page 18
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• The principal
ikt director of a Man
chester tipper firm has been warned by North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Keith Waterworth that he can have no more time to "fiddle around getting it wrong".
The TC cut the licence held by Pamona Haulage from four vehicles to three at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry.
Vehicle examiner Edmund Burke said that in the past five years seven immediate and 13 delayed prohibitions had been issued, with seven variation notices. Four of the prohibitions were for a significant maintenance failure.
Two vehicles Burke examined in April were in a satisfactory condition but the five to six-week inspection period had been extended by up to eight weeks. The facilities were basic and one semi-skilled fitter was employed who also did some driving.
For the company, Charles Stansfield said that maintenance problems had arisen during a period when the company was hit by a string of bad debts, totalling some £80,000. Director Thomas Murray had relied too much on the part-time fitter, who was no longer responsible for maintenance.
older vehicles, which had now gone. A contract had been signed with a commercial garage and he would monitor the systems which were now in place. Burke said he felt that Murray had been distracted from vehicle maintenance by business worries.
Indicating that he was satisfied about finance, the TC said the problem was not lack of money but 20 prohibitions in five years on a fleet of this size made him wonder if Murray was really up to it. He warned him that if the prohibition rate did not significantly improve the licence was likelY to be revoked.