'" Haulier lulled into lapses
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• A West. Yorkshire haulage company, said to have been lulled into a false sense of security over its maintenance standards, has had the authorisation on its licence cut by one vehicle and two trailers.
Batley-based ICS Transport had been called before North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Brian Horner at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry. It held a licence for 12 vehicles and 15 trailers.
DOT vehicle examiner Mark Millard said that the company had previously had a satis factory maintenance record but since January six prohibitions had been imposed on its vehicles, four of which indicated a significant failure in maintenance.
Millard added that he had carried out unannounced maintenance investigations in February and April following the issue of two immediate prohibitions. He examined three vehicles and eight trailers, issuing one delayed and two immediate prohibitions and four defect notices. The wallchart was not fully completed and the records failed to substantiate that inspection periods were being adhered to. The records showed a gap of 24 weeks between inspections in relation to one vehicle and 54 weeks in relation to a trailer. Mileages were omitted from some records and there was no driver defect reporting system.
Director Paul Wood said that the previous fitter was dismissed in January and there had been a gap of a couple of months before they could obtain an adequate replacement.
For the company, Gary Hodgson said that the lack of previous warnings over maintenance over a number of years had lulled the company into a false sense of security.
Cutting the licence, Homer said he could not overlook what had gone wrong.