Haulier at once censured and rewarded
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Failure to comply with environmental conditions and the use of unauthorised operating centres has resulted in the licence held by a Bedfordshire-based haulier being suspended for 14 days,
George Wright, who trades as Wright Transport Services, appeared before Eastern Traffic Commissioner Geoffrey Simms.
Originally there were two operating centres, at Luton and Houghton Regis, In March 2002, an additional operating centre at Lenwaile in Norfolk was granted for one vehicle, with conditions restricting the length of the vehicle to 10m and requiring it to enter and leave in forward gear. The IC was considering complaints from Robert Smith—a neighbouring Lenwade trader—and an application to remove the conditions from the Lanwade site.
The IC was told that during 2002, Wright had purchased part of the private access road and cleared most of the obstructions, enabling his vehicle to turn round in the site. He was using a vehicle that was 11.3m long and had failed to take account of the differences in its construction.
For Wright, Arthur Stokes pointed out that although one vehicle had been operated in an unsatisfactory manner, the remaining five had generated no criticism. Simms suspended the licence and commented that no sooner was authorisation granted for the use of the Lenwade site, then Wright generated complaints.
In an effort to avoid Smith's attentions, Wright had parked the vehicle at his home at Sparham Hill. But at no time had Sparham Hill over been the authorised operating centre and Lenwade was not authorised until March 2002. As Wright was the regular driver of the vehicle concerned, lie must have been aware that it was considerably longer than 10 metres. Had the one vehicle been the entirety of Wright's operation, then good repute would have been jeopardised.
Lifting the conditions, the TO said that there had been a considerable change in circumstances since Wright made his original application to use Lenwade.
He now owned the roadway leading to his unit, which meant it could be considered as part of the operating centre.