Three vehicles is too many
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• The licence held by Susan Thomas, trading as JS Lee Contractors, of Ynysddu, was suspended for a week, its authorisation was reduced from three vehicles to two, and its duration to expire at the end of September, after Thomas admitted that she was not capable of operating three vehicles.
At a Cardiff public inquiry South Wales LA John Mervyn Pugh heard that Thomas only had one vehicle, having sold the rest. It had been impossible to I& get drivers to follow a daily nil defect reporting system so she had sacked all of them except one who had been with her for six years since leaving school.
The LA referred to a shock absorber that had come adrift and had been tied up with wire without the driver reporting it. Thomas admitted she had had enough and could not handle the maintenance of a fleet of vehicles.
Commenting on photographs taken by a Department of Transport vehicle examiner, Mervyn Pugh said he had rarely seen such an untidy workshop and site. It was a case of weak management and drivers thinking that a woman was a soft touch. He strongly advised Thomas to have her one remaining vehicle put through a fresh annual test.