Failed to honour his commitment
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• The licence for four vehicles and three trailers held by Ellesmere, Salop-based livestock haulier Robert Dean was suspended for three weeks by West Midland Licensing Authority John Mervyn Pugh at a Birmingham disciplinary inquiry. However, he subsequently agreed to lift the suspension after 10 days.
The LA said that he imposed the suspension with regret, but if an operator failed to fulfil his statements of intention under the new continuous licensing system suspension would follow except in exceptional circumstances. The difficulty was that with continuous licensing he no longer had the power to prematurely terminate a licence.
For Dean, Michael Carless said that, though two immediate prohibitions and a defect notice had been issued, none of them were due to neglect.
Mervyn Pugh said that the
Dean had not
paperwork seemed to be lacking.
Carless said that Dean operated three vehicles, driving one himself; the other two were driven by his father and his brother-in-law. It was conceded there had not been a written driver defect reporting system or a forward planning chart for inspections, but that had now been put right. The vehicles were maintained every six weeks by a commercial garage.
After Pugh warned that he was consideiing suspending the licence on the grounds Dean had not fulfilled a statement of intention to keep his vehicles in a fit and serviceable condition. Carless said that a suspension would have a devastating effect, particularly in the present financial climate.
Dean said there were certain farmers for whom he had worked for years and he also had regular work at local markets. It was very competitive and once the work went it was lost.