Plant hire haulier has licence revoked
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Potts Plant Hire has 0-licence revoked for illegally operating vehicles from second site and poor standards By Roger Brown A CARLISLE plant hire haulier that unlawfully used an operating centre and failed to meet its obligations regarding vehicle maintenance, safety and operating standards, is to have its 0-licence in the North West revoked.
Following a public inquiry (PI) held in Warrington earlier this month, Simon Evans, deputy traffic commissioner (TC) for the North West of England, ruled that the licence held by Arran and Carol Potts, trading as Potts Plant Hire, would end on 5 April.
He also curtailed the licence from two vehicles to one from 4 January.
The PI was told how a Vosa officer visited the plant firm's Midgeholme operating base in September 2012 to inspect its vehicles and paperwork.
He discovered that the business had been illegally operating vehicles from a site in Haltwhistle in Northumberland since 2007— which falls within the north eastern traffic area.
By the time of the PI, the deputy TC found that the business had still not made an application for permission to run vehicles from premises in the North East.
On reviewing paperwork submitted by the operator, Evans noted that the partners had taken "no immediate action" to rectify this situation, with an application only made to add the Northumberland address — incorrectly — to its north-western licence in December 2012.
In his report to the deputy TC, the Vosa examiner also noted that defective vehicles had been issued with prohibition notices, paperwork relating to safety inspections was not complete and drivers had not been recording their daily visual defect checks. Evans said: "Despite pressing from me, I have been unable to establish with clarity why the operator has failed to resolve the position at any stage in the last five years, or more particularly since the vehicle examiner's visit.
"The operating centre issues expose what can only be found to be a 'closing of its eyes' to the reality of its position and a neglect to act with appropriate speed to rectify the position."
Evans concluded that it was possible for Potts Plant Hire to fix the shortcomings found by the examiner, and said the business was free to apply for a new 0-licence in the North East.
The deputy TC said that if the operator was to continue in business it would need to adhere to several commitments relating to vehicle safety inspections, and have a maintenance audit carried out.