1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156 
Barnsley firm loses licence over maintenance failures
Page 28
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A firm running a truck with brakes reported to be almost as badly maintained as the truck Involved In the Sowerby Bridge disaster has lost Its licence and seen its directors banned.
Barnsley-based EJ Litister & Sons' licence for 10 vehicles and one trailer was revoked by the North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchttffe. In addition to disqualifying the company indefinitely, the DTC disqualified its directors Eric and Felicity !Aster for a period of three months.
Vehicle examiner Keith Craven told the OTC that a series of maintenance problems had culminated in a laden tipper being found on the public road with seriously defective brakes.
The slack adjusters of the vehicle concerned had been reported as inoperative since January but had not been replaced, with the brakes manually adjusted. He considered that there were many similari
ties with the condition of the laden tipper at Sowerby Bridge, a case which led to a sea change in the attitude of the public and perhaps ICs towards regulation of the haulage industry.
However, no such finding was made by the DTC who considered that this case was different to Sowerby Bridge In a number of material respects, otherwise he would have taken the company and its directors out of the industry never to return.
He took account of the efforts made by the company to comply with undertakings given at a previous Public inquiry, though things had clearly gone seriously wrong earlier this year. The company was proposing to improve its maintenance arrangements in a number of ways and there was clear focus on improvement in brake performance. However, said the RTC, the over-riding concern remained that there had been failures to get vehicles into tip-top condition, culminating in a laden tipper being found with significantly defective brakes. 'It seems to me that the public would not countenance this licence continuing," said Hinchiiffe. ''The directors have to bear personal responsibility."
CM contacted EJ Ulster, but had received no response as It went to press.
CASE HIGHLIGHT
It is not enough for directors to set up adequate systems and then leave them to run themselves. What is required is constant supervision and monitoring to ensure that the systems work.