Maintenance problems lead to fleet reduction
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• A Derbyshire tipper operator's licence has been cut from 15 vehicles and 12 trailers to 12 vehicles and 10 trailers because of maintenance problems.
Gam.: and Valerie Walker, trading as Alabaster Bulk Haulage, of Longliffe, had been called before North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Patrick Mulvenna at a Trafford disciplinary inquiry.
Vehicle examiner Peter Biggs said that in March he examined four vehicles and four trailers and imposed an immediate prohibition, a delayed prohibition and a defect notice.
He considered that to be unsatisfactory as his visit had been pre-arranged. In total, two immediate and two delayed prohibitions had been issued to the firm's vehicles, said Biggs, all of which were endorsed as showing a significant maintenance failure.
There was a driver defect reporting system but it was not
being used. He conceded that the firm had a very good annual test record.
Garry Walker said that he had kept telling the drivers about filling in the defect books but they had preferred to just come and get the repairs done.
Since the vehicle examiner's visit, he said, the drivers had been told that if they did not comply with the system they would be stood down for a couple of days while they learned their lesson.
An-angements had been made for additional inspections to be carried out by a commercial garage and a 50ft inspection pit was under construction at a cast of around £6,000, said Walker.
Mulvenna commented that things seemed to have gone wrong over the past 12 months: before that time the record had been extremely good. Walker replied that there was no apparent reason for this change.
Although he was encouraged by the efforts made to turn things round, Mulvenna felt he had to take some action.