Tribunal critical of THC
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THE system employed by the Transport Holding Company to detect brake failure was criticized by the Transport Tribunal when it gave its decision on a recent appeal by the THC. The appeal was against the South Eastern Licensing Authority's suspension of a vehicle under Section 178 (1) (h) of the 1960 Act.
The vehicle was two weeks overdue for a monthly service when the examination took place. But this was not considered to be the reason for the vehicle having defective brakes. The Tribunal members considered that it was because there was no system designed to disclose such defects before they became apparent during the operation of the vehicle. The examiner had experienced no difficulty in discovering the braking defect and it seemed to the members that the THC was guilty of an omission in failing to devise an adequate system of checking.
Mr. R. Yorke, for the appellants, had urged that it would be unjust for them to be penalized in the absence of fault on their part (see COMMERCIAL MOTOR, June 17). The Tribunal, however, stressed that the appellants were at fault in not having a more informative system. This was not a triviality in the eyes of the members, but they reduced the original suspension of four weeks to one week.