Operator's licence revoked after series of prohibitions
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The licence held by Nottingham-based Vincent Hart was revoked by the new North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Tom Macartney when Hart failed to appear at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry.
Hart, trading as Hart Scaffolding, of Hucknall, held a licence for two vehicles; this was his third public inquiry in four years over maintenance problems.
Vehicle examiner Paul Orange said that he had examined one vehicle in January, issuing a defect notice for four items. There were no maintenance records since November and Orange had been told that Hart was looking for a new maintenance contractor. The inspection records showed little or no repair work— he considered both those records and the driver defect reports to be little more than "tick exercises".
At the last public inquiry, in September 1998, Hart had promised to carry out roller-brake tests every 12 weeks but there was no evidence that this had been done. He concluded that the guidance given at the last public inquiry had not been fully implemented as serious defects were still being found.
In reply to the TC, Orange agreed that he believed the inspection records and driver defect reports had been falsified. The IC commented that Hart had failed to respond to a request for the production of financial details.
Orange said he had been phoned by a number of garages to say the vehicle had broken down and was being towed in for repairs; he had been told that it was only repaired when it broke down and believed finance might be a problem, After the TC had commented that there had been six prohibitions in the past five years, Orange said they had been pretty horrendous ones, with the defects on one running to two sheets.
Giving notice that he also planned to disqualify Hart from holding an 0-licence, the TC said there was a distinct possibility that Hart could not afford to look after his vehicles properly. A failure to keep undertakings given in person to the TC was particularly serious. He concluded that it would be unsafe to allow vehicles belonging to Hart to stay on the road.