Bell bans untrustworthy haulier
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Liverpool haulier Lawrence Woods was banned from holding an 0-licence for five years after North Western Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell decided that he could not be trusted.
Huyton-based Woods, who traded as
LW Haulage. had been called before the IC at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry but failed to attend.
The TC said that a letter had been received from Woods stating that he had sacked his drivers, had ceased trading and was surrendering his 0-licence. But in the light of Woods' maintenance record she was not prepared to accept the surrender.
Vehicle examiner Eric Bober said the licence had been in existence for two and a half years. Four immediate and two delayed prohibitions had been issued to Woods' vehicles since a warning letter in June 1999. The licence was cut from six vehicles to three at a public inquiry in January 2000 because of continuing maintenance problems, Bober reported.
He examined the two vehicles in use in September, imposing immediate prohibitions on both for insecure wheels and serious brake defects.
There was no effective driver defect reporting system, he added, with only two inspection records for the whole of 20011 for one vehicle and none for the other. Woods had also moved to a new operating centre without authority.
In reply to the IC, Bober said he was unaware that Woods had ceased trading and that he had found Woods evasive.
Revoking the licence, and making the disqualification order, the IC said: "He has not exhibited conduct that satisfies me that he is fit to hold a licence. I feel there is no place in the industry for Mr Lawrence Woods, trading as LW Haulage."