Maintenance problems
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• Maintenance problems at three of Leigh Environ mental's four eastern area depots have led to the company's licence being renewed for two years only.
It appeared before Eastern LA Brigadier Compton Boyd at a Cambridge disciplinary inquiry to apply for renewal for 65 vehicles and 24 trailers: he granted 49 vehicles and 12 trailers, based at Acrewood Way, St Albans; Redbourne Road, St Albans; The Hythe, Colchester; and East Harling, Norwich. Vehicle examiner Anthony Pearson gave details of 12 prohibition notices, including six immediate. He said he had examined eight vehicles and one trailer at the two St Albans depots in March and April, issuing two immediate prohibitions for brake defects. The faults were indicative of a lack of maintenance.
The vehicles were examined by appointment and had obviously been inspected before his examination. The maintenance records were not complete or up to date. There appeared to be four different managers for the various parts of the business, dry, wet, and hazardous waste. No co-ordination appeared to exist and nobody seemed to know how many vehicles were at each depot.
The LA pointed out that similar criticisms had been made in relation to the Colchester depot.
Pearson said he had found a great improvement when he visited the two depots again in September. Maintenance had been put in the hands of outside contractors. He examined eight vehicles and three trailers, all of which were in good order. The driver defect system was now operating and efforts had been made to get the records up to date.
Keith Wymark, southern region general manager for dry waste collection, said the company had a different structure at the time and sadly there had been a lack of communication and no monitoring system. People were assumed to be doing what they were supposed to do. There had been an embarrassingly high turnover of depot managers at Acrewood Way.
There was now a regional coordinator, said Wymark, and an engineer in Portsmouth would check the quality of the maintenance work. Vehicle maintenance across the whole group was being reviewed.
Asked why seven overloading convictions had not been notified or declared. Wymark said nobody had been aware of them.
Granting renewal of the licence with a severe warning, Brigadier Boyd said the prohibitions were the product of a flawed system.