Three-month suspension for Jones
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• Wrexham cattle breeder Jean Jones had her 0licence suspended for three months by North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner John Levin. Jones, of Ridley Wood, Wrexham, when she appeared before him because of concerns over maintenance and convictions for drivers' hours offences.
Vehicle examiner Peter Carson told a Manchester disciplinary inquiry he inspected Jones' vehicle and trailer in October, issuing a defect notice to the trailer.
One of the brakes was maladjusted and the nearside tyre was worn to the limit. Only two inspection sheets were produced for the vehicle. No brake performance checks were recorded and there was no evidence of a driver defect reporting system. Jones could not provide evidence the vehicle had been subjected to any regular inspections.
Maintenance records showed the vehicle appeared to have been operated while still under a prohibition.
Jones said she had not totally appreciated her responsibilities for maintenance and tacho
graph records. The vehicle was now maintained by a commercial garage who inspected the vehicle every six weeks with slightly longer intervals for the trailer.
There was now a driver defect reporting system. Tacho charts were now inspected by an analysis company and she was on a course to familiarise herself with the regulations.
She agreed she had been convicted of 12 offences of permitting a driver to drive excess hours and take insufficient daily rest and four offences of failing to produce tacho records, for which she was fined I:3,400 with £250 costs.
Suspending the licence, Levin said that he accepted that Mrs Jones had turned over a new leaf since being instructed how to legally operate, but quite serious offences had been committed.