_ast chance' warning
Page 41
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
f the haulier did not mend his ways. r the new licensing system he would rapidly find himself in serious ulties and this was probably the last ce he would have to put his house in This was the warning given by Mr. J. West Midland LA, at a Section 178 ry in Birmingham last week when ancing his decision to suspend three vehfor three months belonging to F. Hill Co. (Hauliers) Ltd.
r. Else said that at an inquiry on April 66 one vehicle had been suspended for months. Since then, between June 1967 August 1968, 16 prohibitions had been xi on Hill's vehicles, of which six had immediate. Of these GV9s, five had issued at a fleet inspection carried out
on 11 vehicles in January last year.
For the company, Mr. N. Carless said the vehicles were engaged on heavy motorway work. The LA recalled that this had been pleaded in mitigation on a previous occasion. Mr. Carless said, of the vehicles which had been prohibited, only four were now on the road, the others having been replaced. Only 10 of the company's 14 A and two B vehicles were now operating but a further three replacements were being applied for £20,000 had been spent on seven vehicles, four of which were new and three less than a year old. As much work was being subcontracted as was being done on their own vehicles at present, he pointed out.
Mr. F. Hill, proprietor, Dudley. said he was changing the fleet from Fords to the heavier Dodges and Albions and this was reducing the trouble. One vehicle was called in every day for inspection. However, a major repair might delay another vehicle's check by a day or two. When the fleet was at full strength in two to three months, he felt a 16-day rota would be all right.
Mr. Else said Mr. Hill and his brother who handled the inspections, were honest people who had been frequently bewildered by events which had overtaken them and he wondered whether punishment of such people had any effect. He impressed on them that a sound inspection and maintenance system must be introduced. The penalty was designed not to discourage the replacement of old vehicles, he said.