Warning for council f
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• Northampton Borough Council has been given a severe warning about maintenance standards by Eastern Traffic Commissioner Brigadier Compton Boyd.
The council, which was seeking to renew its licence for 78 vehicles and 10 trailers, was called to a Cambridge disciplinary inquiry, having previously had a warning letter about maintenance in 1987.
DOT Vehicle examiner David Raymond said he examined 16 vehicles in April, imposing three immediate and three delayed prohibitions. Faults found included defective brakes and loose wheelnuts. Two of the prohibited vehicles had been three weeks overdue for inspection.
The driver of a vehicle with a serious air leak had reported no defects and another, whose vehicle had loose wheelnuts, did not believe it was his job to check round the vehicle before taking it out. It was apparent that no one had overall control of the vehicles. Seven vehicles were inspected in October and two more immediate prohibitions were issued.
For the council, Claire Peck said that a fleet controller had been appointed and new maintenance procedures put into effect.
Oswald Dodds, the council's director of contract services, said that contracts it held with an outside agency and with its own workshops contained performance and penalty clauses.
Conceding there had been a lack of quality control in the past, Dodds said that competitive tendering had led to a tendency for divisional managers to work in isolation, so the fleet was not always regarded as one unit. The licence was essential if the council was to maintain its services to the public. Severely admonishing the council, and renewing its licence for 12 months only, Boyd said that public bodies were expected to support and uphold the system, not undermine it.
Boyd warned he would not want to listen to many excuses next time. The council, he said, had a moral responsibility._