Finn's licence cut over maintenance
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• The duration of the eightvehicle licence held by Kealshore, which took over part of the operation of liquidated J Pickavance, was cut last week so that it expires on 31 December because North Western Deputy Licensing Authority John Levin regards its maintenance record as "abysmal and unfortunate".
Only one inspection record could be produced, dated 11 February, and drivers were reporting defects on scraps of paper. One vehicle was the subject of a prohibition. Traffic examiner Alan Singleton said he had examined five vehicles, the other two failing to turn up, and he had imposed prohibitions on all five, three beir4 of an immediate nature, for a total of 34 defects. Since June 1986, there had been eight other prohibitions imposed on the company's vehicles: six immediate and two delayed.
Transport manager Joseph Pickavance said that the directors were his wife and 19year-old son. J Pickavance — which once operated more thar 100 tippers — had gone into liquidation in August 1987 as a result of substantial claims relating to penalty clauses in a contract with Wirnpey. Until August 1987 the vehicles of the two companies had been run as one fleet. On the liquidation Kealshore bought a number of Pickavance vehicles. Because of that company's cash-flow problems, those vehicles had become "a bit rough."
A lot of money had been spent on those vehicles and they were being worked on at the time of the vehicle examiner's visit.
The company was prepared , to reduce the period between inspections to four weeks. A book had been provided for drivers to report defects. There were no inspection records prior to August because the bailiff had locked the J Pickavance office and no-one had been allowed in since.
Between August and February maintenance books had been kept for each vehicle but the fitter had not filled in inspection sheets. That had now been put right.