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mismanaged from day 1'

1st March 2001, Page 19
1st March 2001
Page 19
Page 19, 1st March 2001 — mismanaged from day 1'
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A Nottingham company which was described by North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney as "amazingly amateurish" has had its Operator's Licence suspended for two days.

Nottingham Storage Systems had been called before the IC at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry. The company holds a restricted licence for one vehicle.

Vehicle examiner Robert Sparkes said he examined the company's vehicle in November. It had just returned from the maintenance contractor and was in a satisfactory condition. However, the two-yearly tachograph calibration check was overdue. The only Inspection records available were dated July 1999 and April, July and November 2000.

An immediate prohibition for a worn tyre was Issued to the vehicle in the Peterborough area before the company had been granted a licence, and that had led to a prosecution. He concluded that there was no planned maintenance system.

In reply to the TO, Sparkes said the six-week inspection period had been exceeded by a substantial amount. The company had twice been prosecuted for unauthorised use; at Penrith in June 2000 and at Cambridge in December 2000.

General manager Andrew Surgey said he had been with the company for about 18 months. "I found that the company had been mismanaged from day one," he told the IC, adding that the then managing director had been reactive rather than proactive. There had been no 0-licence until one was granted in April of last year. However he had been given a free rein to put matters right, and there had been a change in culture across the board.

The company was about to sign a four-year lease for a new replacement vehicle, said Surgey. The December conviction had arisen after they had hired a second vehicle.

Asked what was going to happen to the former managing director, Surgey said: "Next week the directors have a meeting with a solicitor who specialises in removing directors from companies."

Explaining that the vehicle was essential to the company's business, Surgey said: "We can't manage without it, and as far as I am concerned it has to be looked after."

Director Stephen Parkin said he had provided the finance to set the company up, and he had been misled by the former managing director. "ft has been a complete mess, but it is over," he told the IC. "Actually, it is like starting again." He added that he was prepared to invest further money In the company.

The IC said it was only because he had been given undertakings for the future, including taking advice from a professional transport consultant, that he was prepared to allow the licence to continue. He concluded: "In a very short history it's clear things have gone dramatically wrong,"


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