No injury 'a mercy of providence' soy Traffic Commissioners
Page 22
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
IT WAS only "the mercy of providence" that no passengers on coaches operated by a Perthshire hire firm had been injured, the chairman of the Scottish Traffic Commissioners said in Dundee last week. Mr Alex Birnie, ordering that seven of the 14 psv licences held by Kings Coaches, Dun blane, be revoked, described it as one of the worst cases the Commissioners had encountered in Scotland.
When the hearing opened Mr J. W. Barty, solicitor, for the operator, Mr Walter King, said that his client could not appear as he was in Germany with a coach tour. He had been unable to get a replacement driver. After reading a letter from Mr King, the chairman said that it was "extraordinarily casual," and in view of the seriousness of the matter showed an element of irresponsibility: A vehicle examiner, Mr Alex Stark, told the court that in June last year he had suspended the licence on one of King's vehicles after finding seven faults. In October, he had taken similar action over another bus because the handbrake had a very low efficiency, and there was an exhaust leak which could have affected passengers.
In February of this year he and a senior colleague had visited the firm and it had been decided that Mr King should procure inspection sheets and consider a regular method of inspection, with means also being provided for drivers to record defects. Mr King was told that a fleet inspection would be carried out in the last fortnight in May.
At the end of May, having given three days notice of their visit, he and another examiner called at the garage. "We examined seven vehicles and five obtained immediate suspension orders." Inspection sheets had been procured, but were not in use. A book provided for drivers' complaints showed five entries since February — none of them dated or signed.
In giving the Commissioners findings, Mr Birnie said that Mr King had shown a casual and irresponsible attitude throughout. With some hesitation they had decided to give him another chance.