LA's action reflects new law
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• Birmingham. based Prinkfield's licence was renewed but with a serious warning from West Midland Licensing Authority John Mervyn Pugh, who warned that the licence would be revoked if there were further maintenance problems.
The tipper operator, of Stratford Road, Hall Green, had applied for renewal of its threevehicle licence at a Birmingham public inquiry.
Mervyn Pugh warned the company that if it picked up another prohibition endorsed as showing a significant maintenance failure, it just would not have a licence.
He added that it was difficult to deal with the company as he would wish, with continuous licensing coming in. In the past he would have granted a shortterm licence. All he could now do was to suspend the licence, revoke it or give the company a warning. He did not intend to suspend or revoke the licence, so he was giving it a serious warning.
Vehicle examiner Adrian Thomas said he had stopped a vehicle in a roadside check in May and imposed an immediate prohibition endorsed "S" because the windscreen was cracked in several places; the brake lights were inoperative; there was an air leak when the footbrake was applied; an inner tyre was deflated; there was excessive wear on the trackrocl ends, excessive travel on the brake actuators; and one out of 10 wheelnuts was loose. An examination of the company's records showed the vehicle had been away from its operating centre for five weeks. The driver had reported the cracked windscreen and a headlamp fault the day before as accident damage, yet the vehicle was still in use. Mervyn Pugh commented that it was a shoddy record. Thomas said he had given the company a lot of advice and guidance.
The company's mechanic, Vincent Cunningham, said the tipper given the prohibition had been working over rough ground.
Mervyn Pugh said that if the company wanted to retain its licence, it had to have a proper system of maintenance that worked.