Municipal failings
Page 45
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
I was very interested in the article entitled "GV9 for council after driver's complaint" (CM July 28). The Scottish Licensing Authority, Mr A. B. Birnie, appears to be rather surprised to find that a heavy goods vehicle operated by the local authority should attract a GV9 prohibition notice.
I am the transport officer for a large private company in Prescot, Lancashire, and have recently been paying particular attention to the external condition of vehicles operated by the local authorities in my area.
One particular vehicle has been in a sad state of repair for the past two months, and I list below some defects which are quite obvious to both the driver and the local authority concerned.
Hgv marker boards fitted upside down; 2, rear reflectors missing; 3, nearside rear wing badly torn; 4, rear indicators unoperative and lenses missing: • 5, stoplights inoperative.
The company I am employed by spend a great deal of time and money trying to maintain their commercial fleet to a high standard as required by current regulations.
I am very concerned to find that local authorities can operate their vehicles in an unroadworthy condition, for what appears to be as long as they please without prosecution, while private operators are continually being hounded by the police for petty offences. I am sure the above example is not an isolated case of neglect by local authorities and feel it is high time that the DoE spent a little more time inspecting sadly neglected vehicles which are being operated by our local authorities.
I am convinced that if many other drivers employed by local councils took the same action as the driver employed by Midlothian County Council, then we would see a lot more GV9s placed on council vehicles.
L. FARMER, Prescot, Lancs.