Braking Charge Against Mobil Fails
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1-1. A SUMMONS brought against the
Mobil Oil Co., Ltd., Tothill Street, S.W.1, for using a tanker with an inefficient braking system, was dismissed by Nottingham Magistrates, last week, after it was stated that £923 had been spent on the vehicle in "normal maintenance" last year.
The summons was brought after the handbrake cable snapped while the tanker was delivering petrol at a garage in Mansfield Road, Nottingham. Out of control, it ran down a slope across the road and into the front of a cinema.
Mr. Peter Danks, prosecuting, said that the cable snapped because of lack of proper maintenance. Mr. Albert Cave, a Ministry of Transport vehicle examiner, said that the cable had frayed inside the protective sleeve. The fault would not have been easy to detect, but it would have been possible to find had the brake cable been removed for examination, he said.
On the day of the accident he had road tested the tanker after its monthly service, said Mr. Harold Milson, Laynes Garage, Scunthorpe, garage foreman. He was quite satisfied then that the brakes were in-proper order...
Mr. Robert Quatermass, northern transport engineer. of the company, said that when it .came to ensuring efficient maintenance money was no object, The vehicles had regular monthly, threemonthly, six-monthly, yearly and twoyearly maintenance schedules. Normal maintenance on the'vehicle last year cost £923. He said that the cable snapped because of an unreasonable strain on it and not because of bad maintenance.