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mistake cost operator £1,000
WHEN a Kent minibus and coach operator won a contract to carry mentally retarded schoolchildren it undercut rival tenders by £39 a day.
But at Bromley magistrates' court last week the contract cost Tentrek Expeditions Ltd, trading as Trans City Coaches, a total of £1,000 in fines and costs. The company pleaded guilty to 28 charges of using vehicles without psv licences, employing drivers without psv licences, running without insurance, and using vehicles without fire extinguishers or first-aid kits being fitted.
The charges arose out of two days' surveillance of Tentrek operations by Metropolitan traffic area enforcement staff at the end of April and the beginning of May.
Mr W. Mariner, prosecuting, told the court that on April 30 a traffic examiner made a check on one of the minibuses which was calling at a school. He found that the vehicle was carrying 1.2 passengers but that no psv licence was in force, that the driver was not a psv licence holder and that there was no fire extinguisher or first-aid kit.
Following this other checks were made and these resulted in the other charges. Mr Peter Hobcraft, a director of the company, was interviewed and he said that since the minibuses did not carry more than eight people they did not need psv licences or have to meet the other regulations.
Mr M. Bentley, defending, said that Tentrek, which operates from Station Approach, Chislehurst, had 48 vehicles of which "12 to 15 had psv licence's in force." The offences were the re of a mistake as to the law • an administrative error. Hobcraft believed the vehic 12-seater Transits, could ct• eight passengers legally.
The chairman of the ma trates said : "This is a r serious matter. One wc have thought that the open would have looked at the legal requirements when applied for the contract." imposed fines totaling f and awarded costs of £20. 0 The Road Traffic Act 11 sections 117 and 118 stal "Any motor vehicle used carrying passengers for and reward which either is carrying passengers at ! arate fares or (b) is not ca • ing passengers at sepa fares but is adapted to a eight or more passengers, public service vehicle.