Operator drove 'coach and horses' through licensing
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A Scunthorpe company which was said to have "driven a coach and horses" through the 0-licensing system has had its licence revoked by North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchliffe.
Vehicle examiner Tony Aitken told a Leeds disciplinary inquiry that since November 1994 six immediate prohibitions had been imposed on vehicles and trailers operated by JE Taylor.
In December he inspected one vehicle, which was free of defects. But the registration numbers on some of the inspection records had been transposed. Director and transport manager Joseph Taylor had said That they all related to one vehicle and he had made a mistake.
There were discrepancies between the mileages on the inspection records and those on the tachograph records. A vehicle which had passed its annual test in Apri11997 was presented for test or several occasions during 1998, failing each time until 23 July. Tachograph records for that vehicle showed that it had been in use during June and July, covering more than 8,000km when no test certificate was in force. Taylor maintained that three prohibitions did not relate to equipment belonging to the company. Another related to a hire vehicle and was dated before the company had used the vehicle.
Taylor denied that the signature on that prohibition and a later one imposed on the same vehicle was his. He added that he had made mistakes with the inspection sheet mileages as he had climbed into the cab without his glasses on. Denying that a vehicle had been used without a valid test certificate. Taylor said the company had spent 8.24,311 on maintenance and repair over the past two years.
Traffic examiner Roy Harrison said he was at Hull docks on 25 June following a tipoff that Taylor was using a Steyr tractor with false registration plates. He saw a vehicle driven by Taylor; a check of the regis tration number revealed that it were subsequently fined a had not been allocated.
No 0-licence disc was displayed and there was no test certificate. The excise licence had been issued to an ERF and was endorsed "duplicate".
Harrison said that when he seized the tax disc Taylor tried to snatch it back and punched him.
The vehicle was given an immediate prohibition as all 10 propeller shaft bolts were loose and the stop lights were not working. The chassis number belonged to a different vehicle.
Taylor and the company
total of S.,400 with 160 costs after being convicted of several offences.
Taylor said the Steyr was a composite dock vehicle and everything had taken place on private dock roads. He denied punching the examiner, saying it was more a push.
Concluding that the company was unfit to hold a licence, the Deputy TC said he was not satisfied it could keep its vehicles roadworthy. And Taylor himself had beer convicted of obstructing a traffic examiner.