Cookhill Transport Have Vehicle Suspended Until Next March
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0NF of the four B-licensed vehicles operated by the Cookhill Transport Co., Ltd., Erdington, Birmingham, was suspended for four months by the West Midland Licensing Authority, Mr. W. P. James., last week. His inquiry followed convictions against the company for operating outside the conditions of the licence. On November 20, 1957, they had admitted 10 cnarges in respect of coal haulage, and last June they admitted eight
• similar offences.
Mr. B:WitherS, managing director, told Mr. James that the .November coUrt case. followed the carriage Of deep-ironed coal for a customer who normally• had opencast coal. The reason' for the lapse was that: the t,t,rong vehicle had been allocated to do the work. '
In the second case be sent out a lorry believing it was going to carry opencast coal, but deep-mined coal was loaded instead. The coal had been hauled from a stocking ground which was away from the colliery, and now he did not send vehicles there unless he was certain that opencast coal was to be carried in them.
Mr. James. said the drivers' records showed that the vehicles had made many coal journeys outside their 20-mile radius. Cautioned by an enforcement officer, Mr. Withers. had said: " It worried me for some time. I knew they were working outside the radius." When he found out that the wrong coal was being carried, 14 journeys had already been made.
Authority's Comment Mr. James added: "I would have thought you would have done something to put yourself in order after the November court hearing, but in June this year you were convicted of the same offence."
At last week's hearing, Cookhill's applied to take over two 1B-licence vehicles operated by G. Rowberry and Sons, Ltd. Mr. James granted this, but ordered a suspension of one of the other vehicles for four months, stating: " cannot attach the same importance to your statement of excuse as you would like me to. When an operator is convicted twice within a year for failing to comply with the terms of his licence it raises considerable doubt as to whether he should hold a licence at all.
"1 hope that you will understand that if you do this again it may mean the revocation of your' licence."
TR.T.A. MEMBERS WARNED ON RECORDS fiEMBERS of the Eastern Area of the nfi Traders' Road Transport Association have been, warned of "greatly increased activity" by Ministry of Transport examiners in respect of drivers' hours and records. The Association have told operators that in many cases records are not being kept correctly, and often the wrong type of record is being used.
Mr. R. E. G. Brown, London Divisional Secretary of the T.R.T.A„ visited the Eastern , Area yesterday to speak on the subject.
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