Fleet cut after public inquiry hat-trick
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A THIRD public inquiry in three years, which focused on vehicle maintenance, has resulted in the 0-licence held by Morpeth,Northumberland-based T Henderson Transport being cut from 12 vehicles and 20 trailers to eight vehicles and 14 trailers.
Vehicle examiner Kevin Donaldson told North-Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchliffe, at a Leeds public inquiry, that he had carried out a maintenance investigation following the issue of an marked prohibition in February for two worn tyres.
He imposed a prohibition on a vehicle that drove into the premises with the swept area of the windscreen obstructed by a sticker.
Since October 2007, six immediate and three delayed prohibitions had been issued to the company's vehicles and trailers — two of which were 'S'-marked.
In May, a vehicle was given an immediate prohibition at annual test for a bulging tyre. The vehicle was removed from the test lane and parked up, and the tyre subsequently exploded. The initial failure rate for the company at annual test was 75%.
Director Sean Henderson said that drivers had been given further instructions about regularly checking tyres. He could educate drivers, he could discipline drivers and even dismiss them, but once the vehicles were on the road, the drivers were out of his control, he said.
He claimed the bulge in the tyre at the test station was due to a manufacturer's defect, as the vehicle had only travelled five miles.
Denying that undertakings Oren at the previous public inquiries in February 2007 and March 2008 had not been complied with,Henderson said that the business was soon moving into a new purpose-built haulage yard at great expense.That would enable them to employ their own fitting staff, rather than relying on an outside contractor.