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0-licence hangs in the balance
Page 31
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Drivers' hours infringements, maintenance problems and unrecorded
mileage are being considered by the TC. Mike Jewell reports.
RUNNING AN international operation without an international licence or a valid test certificate and with faulty brakes on one vehicle may cost a north-eastern operator its 0-licence.
Neils of Whitby. which holds a two-vehicle national licence, had been called before NorthEasternTraffic Commissioner Tom Macartney Vehicle examiner George Crampton said he carried out a maintenance investigation in January. Only two inspection records were available for the past 15 months. He was told that the original maintenance contractor had closed and a casual arrangement had been in place until a new contract was entered into in December 2006. One vehicle had required six attempts to pass the annual Lest.
Traffic examiner Stephen Rigby said an examination of tachograph charts revealed an unrecorded distance of 262km for one vehicle and 507km for the other.
Multiple infringements
One vehicle's test certificate had expired in April 2006 and was not renewed until September 2006. The vehicle was frequently used during that period, travelling to Ireland and Brussels, despite the firm having only a national licence. DirectorAlan Charman had twice exceeded the daily driving limit and had driven for more than 4 1/2 hours without the required break. There were also centrefield discrepancies.
Charman said the vehicles were very rarely out at the same time: sometimes one vehicle would be parked up for several months. The unrecorded distance in relation to one vehicle would be from when it was taken for test. As for the other vehicle, it had been brought back from Taunton, Somerset, after a breakdown without a chart in the tachograph.
Charman added that there was a brake efficiency problem with the vehicle that continually failed its annual test but nobody in the Whitby area had a roller brake tester. Inspections had been carried out prior to December 2006 but Charman said he was never given any inspection records.
Regarding the drivers' hours infringements, Charman said that one had been when he was travelling to Dover after being held up by an accident on the motorway; on the other occasion, he had got lost in Belfast.The vehicle had been used without a valid test certificate after Vasa told him he had two weeks to gel it retested and that he should run it for a week to get the brakes bedded down.
He added that the jobs abroad had been carried out as a subcontractor for an operator which had put the Neils of Whitby vehicle on its international licence.That operator had not been aware the vehicle did not have a valid test certificate as Charman had not mentioned it.
Charman admitted the licence had been granted to a partnership in February 2003 that had been operating as a limited company since March 2004. He agreed that no accounts had ever been filed at Companies House and that there was a proposal to strike the company off.
The TC is to announce his decision in writing. •