Dangerous vehicle halves fleet
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• A Co Durham company which ran a vehicle in a dangerous condition four months after its licence was granted has had its licence cut from four vehicles and four trailers to two vehicles and two trailers.
Shildon Pallets & Packaging appeared before North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Keith Waterworth at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry.
Vehicle examiner Gordon Whittaker said he carried out a maintenance investigation in June. He imposed an immediate prohibition on one vehicle for a steering defect which had been present for some time.
The vehicle had last been inspected eight weeks previously, he said, when the stated period was six weeks. The driver should have been aware of the looseness in the steering. There was no pro
vision for driver defect reporting, and the company's failings had led to the operation of a vehicle in a dangerous condition.
Director Glen Morley said the licence was granted in February and the company was only operating one vehicle. It was now booked in with a maintenance contractor every six weeks and the driver had been issued with a defect reporting book. Minor repairs were carried out by a fitter employed by a haulier who was based on the same site as Shildon. Morley said Alan Simpson, one of the two shareholders, ran his own haulage business.
Cutting the licence, Waterworth said he was not leaving the company with four vehicles and four trailers until he was satisfied it had a proper preventive maintenance system. It was disturbing that maintenance problems had arisen straight after the licence was granted.
Warning that 0-licences were easily lost if there was a failure to meet the required professional standards, the Commissioner said that he would not allow any increase in the fleet until the company's maintenance standards had been improved.