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Hauliers warned to monitor maintenance contractors
Page 8
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• by Guy Sheppard Hauliers who contract out their maintenance may unwittingly end up with a string of MoT test failures which damage their Operator's Licence record.
The warning comes from Graham Eames, vice-president of the trade association Transfrhgoroute International, who claims to be aware of at least one maintenance contractor entering vehicles for their tests without the proper preparation.
"They were doing rudimentary work and then allowing the test station to provide a list of what needed to be done," he adds. From a servicing and safety point of view it is a pretty unprofessional way of working."
Eames says hauliers have no idea if any of their vehicles fail the test unless there are procedures in place for the contractor or the test station to notify them.
A spokeswoman for the Vehicle Inspectorate confirms that a string of MoT failures Could trigger a maintenance inspection of a haulage depot. "indirectly, test failures could reflect badly on the 0-licence," she says. Eames argues that vehicle manu facturers need to monitor their dealerships or third-party contractors to prevent an excessive level of test failures.
But Alistair Manson, a director of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, which represents car and CV dealerships, says he cannot imagine the approach outlined by Eames being adopted by responsible maintenance operators.
He points out that most hauliers would find the extra downtime involved unacceptable: "The trend now is to take advantage of the 24-hour shift servicing that franchised dealers offer to enable hauliers to take advantage of the reduced time their vehicles aren't productive," he says.