Encourage maintenance
Page 29
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THE TERM "inadequate maintenance" keeps popping up, revealing the cost and penalty to the coach operator, road haulier and the owner/driver.
It must be heartbreaking to these operators who prepare their vehicles for annual inspection and test, uphold the qualifying interim inspections, and deal with the daily reporting of defects, then, suddenly, prohibition takes its toll.
Surely there is a more serious side to maintenance than routine and repetition causes sloppiness. The manufacturers provide recommended maintenance and service plans to deal with a vehicle's immediate needs, and when out of this scope the vehicle must have a planned maintenance which deals with contingencies such as motorway fatigue, abnormal loading and high mileage, together with terrain and weather conditions.
Most operators are sensible enough to apply service and maintenance to their vehicles but are amazed at the high repair costs in which they become involved.
Rental vehicles, for example, are subject to abuse by various drivers and their repair costs are astronomical.
More should be done to encourage the road operator to make proper vehicle checks on arrival at bases, draw up simple but stringent maintenance programmes taking into account the operating conditions, and have a pride in the benefits of controlled preventive action.
TOM BADEN-WALFORD Salford, Greater Manchester