Manager must appear
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416 • Consideration
of disciplinary action against a Staffordshire firm which was granted a licence in March has been adjourned for seven days to enable its transport manager to appear before West Midland Deputy Traffic Commissioner Alan Candi, Newcastle-under-Lyme based Highdown had been called before the Deputy Commissioner following two immediate prohibition notices and doubts over the taxation of two vehicles.
John O'Connor said his wife Suzanne, who was both director and transport manager, was unable to attend as their children were at school and her mother was unwell.
Vehicle examiner Cohn Morley said a colleague had been called by the police to examine one of the company's vehicles which had been involved in an accident. He imposed an immediate prohibition, showing a significant maintenance failure for 12 items, including six defects to the suspension. He considered the wear in the springs and anchor pins and an insecure fuel tank close to detachment should have been picked up by the driven There were also a number of defects to the brakes. The vehicle had missed at least one of its scheduled inspections.
The Deputy Commissioner commented that the incident occurred almost within a week of the licence being issued.
Morley said that when the vehicle examiner visited the company a few days later, he inspected another vehicle and issued it with an inunediate prohibition for brake defects. The planning chart in the workshop was not up to date and no driver defect reports could be produced.
O'Connor said the vehicle involved in the accident had been on its way back from Swansea, where it was working, to be maintained. It should have been brought back earlier but it had been damaged by vandals. The air tank blew out and rather than plough into children, the driver had crashed it into a barrier. They were currently operating only two of their four vehicles, the other two were to be scrapped, His wife was new to the game and they were learning as they went along, said O'Connor, Adjourning the proceedings, Cattell said things appeared to have gone awry from the start. Mrs O'Connor bore the responsibility for that as transport manager and he said her personal attendance was vital if the licence was to continue—there were a number of matters that caused him concern.