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Licence trimmed after truck lost pair of wheels
Page 23
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A Cumbrian tipper operator whose vehicle lost a pair of wheels Oil an A-road has had his licence cut from six vehicles to five.
Dearham-based Paul Hodgson was called before the North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchiiffe at an Oldham disciplinary inquiry. He held a licence for six vehicles and three trailers.
Vehicle examiner Matthew Grieve said that he had carried out a maintenance investigation in November, following a road traffic accident where the vehicle lost a pair of wheels on the A6594 trunk road.
The detachment was due to insecure wheel fastenings and there was evidence that the wheelnuts had been loose prior to detachment. The defect had clearly been present for some time and he issued the vehicle with an immediate prohibition, endorsed as showing a significant maintenance failure.
Hodgson had admitted fairing to carry out a 'walk round' check before taking the vehicle out that morning. The maintenance records showed that the vehicles were regularly inspected at the stated intervals, but there was no written dri
ver defect reporting system. Grieve was told that Hodgson only operated a verbal system with his maintenance contractor.
The DTC commented that Hodgson's business was pulling in around £50,000 a year and it was surely worthwhile for him "to get his act together".
He said that the haulier was required to have /16,300 in capital and reserves available for a six-vehicle licence. Asked where that was coming from, Hodgson replied: "I will have to sell something."
Commenting that there was a lot of undrawn profit in the accounts in the value of the vehicles, the DTC said that Hodgson needed to demonstrate that the required capital and reserves could be made quickly available. Adjourning the question of finance for four to five weeks, the DTC said Hodgson needed to take some advice from his accountant, as it seemed to him that he had the capital assets in the business to raise the required capital and reserves.
Cutting the licence, the DTC said that there would be another maintenance investigation in 12 months. Any application for an increase in licence authorisation would trigger a further maintenance investigation.