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Milk firm warned as tanker is suspended for six weeks
Page 35
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A MILK WHOLESALER'S sloppy maintenance regime has cost it the suspension of one vehicle for six weeks. It was the firm's second public inquiry within three years.
Birmingham-based Dairy Fresh Dairies, which had been called before West Midland Traffic Commissioner Nick Jones, holds a restricted licence for six vehicles.
According to vehicle examiner Hardip Singh Gill, an immediate prohibition had been issued at the roadside. He examined four vehicles in February, issuing a delayed prohibition and three defect notices.
He reported that the two mechanics involved struggled with the English language and the paperwork was completed by other staff, the six-weekly inspection periods had been extended on occasion by up to nearly 10 weeks and the records were not always correctly completed. The driver defect-reporting system was not used properly', and the defect reports were kept for only two or three weeks. There was an initial pass rate at annual test of 33%, compared with the national average of 65%.
Gill agreed it was not a question of haying dangerous vehicles but more a question of sloppiness, and that the annual test failures were mainly due to headlamp aim.
A Dairy Fresh representative said the ETA carried out audits every six months and would continue to do so. It was going to have to be a totally different set-up and they were planning to employ a third mechanic and a qualified transport manager.
He agreed that Dairy Fresh knew how to run a milk business,but not a transport operation.
Cutting the licence to five vehicles for a six-week period, the TC said the company had come perilously close to losing both its licence and business, and it should be under no delusions about the potential consequences if there was no improvement.