Last chance for haulier • A vehicle which was found
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to be in "an extremely dangerous condition" with serious brake defects has led to the number of vehicles on a Sheffield haulier's licence being cut by half.
Eric Barnett, trading as Eric Barnett Haulage, appeared before North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Brian Horner at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry.
At a public inquiry last September, Barnett was granted a national licence for four vehicles and two trailers, not the six vehicles and five trailers applied for. The reduction was due to the maintenance record of a corn pany with which he was connected, Glossop Truck Rentals, which had led to the revocation of that company's licence.
Vehicle examiner Anthony Fielding said he examined four vehicles and a trailer in November, issuing one vehicle with an immediate prohibition for brake defects. The stated inspection period of six weeks had been exceeded for that vehicle. It was in an extremely dangerous con There were no facilities for testing brakes, Fielding added, but a visual inspection would have revealed the defects.
Barnett said he had always had a defect system but it had not been satisfactory to the Traffic Commissioner. Following the last public inquiry he had introduced the new system suggested.
Barnett said the vehicle had last been driven on 24 October. It was inspected the following day and early on in the inspection it was brought to his attention that the brakes were seriously defective. It was an old vehicle and he decided to scrap it, so no inspection report was filled in.
Fielding pointed out that the vehicle had been displaying current 0-licence and tax discs, and that the defects had arisen due to its use on the road while the brakes were out of adjustment.
Cutting the licence, Horner said he felt Barnett had made a real effort to improve his maintenance system. However, the prohibited vehicle had slipped through the net and it must have been operated with defects that could have caused a serious accident.
He called for a further maintenance investigation to be carried out in September, warning Barnett to take this last chance to put matters right very seriously.