FTA seeks GV9 appeals system
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• Action should be taken to introduce an official appeals procedure against the issue of wrongly based GV9s, the Freight Transport Association has told the Ministry of Transport. The Association feels that it is illogical to draw a distinction, so far as appeals rights are concerned, between decisions taken in a test station and those determined—maybe by the same officials —under the prohibition notice system. Although operators have the right to appeal against an inspector's refusal to clear a prohibition notice, neither this nor the issue of the GVIO does anything to delete the all-important GV9 from their records.
In future years, says the FTA, with the emphasis placed on maintenance by operators licensing, the issue of GV9s will be of even greater significance to operators than at present. They will not want their record to be affected adversely by any unjustified prohibition, especially where mistakes occur.
For example, in a case recently reported by the Association a national company was issued with a GV9 on one of its vehicles which six days earlier had passed the annual test and in the meantime had covered only 658 miles. The vehicle was immediately returned to the garage which had prepared it for the test. No fault could be found and the vehicle was resubmitted to another Ministry inspector, who issued a clearance certificate, although no maintenance had been carried out. In the course of six days the vehicle had been passed by two independent persons in a specialist garage, by the Ministry's test station officials, and by the second inspector who issued the GVIO.
The Association has also asked for a three-tier prohibition notice system to be introduced. Such a system would incorporate the present immediate and deferred prohibition notices, plus nonstatutory Defect Notices to cover and record any faults which although not likely to be a safety risk, nevertheless required remedial action. The FTA has been pressing for this type of system to be introduced for some time. It feels that the case for non-statutory notes is greater now, following the introduction of 0-licensing.