Pride of the Road avoids a fall
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a. Road has had its
PCV Operator's for 12 months only, and its vehicle authorisation cut from 34 to 28 by North Eastern Traffic Commissioner Frederick Whalley. He warned that if the company appeared before him again it was likely to lose its licence altogether.
The Barnsley-based operator had been called before the Commissioner because of its poor maintenance record and doubts over its repute following a series of allegations of malpractice made by former operations manager Kevin Townend and the former managing director of Hanson Europa, David Pearce.
Pride of the Road director Wilfred Moston said that Hanson Europa had asked for assistance after getting into financial difficulties. Hanson Europa had to tax the vehicles provided by Pride of the Road, so it was the registered keeper.
Moston was unable to explain why South Wales Transport fleet numbers on the buses did not tie up with registration numbers, but thought that body panels might have been changed. For the company, John Backhouse said it was possible that someone had maliciously interfered with the registration plates.
Whalley said that he was reasonably satisfied that the company was moving in the right direction with relation to maintenance. Few of Townend's allegations had been proven, but there was some corroboration from other parties. He said that the company had to be given the benefit of the doubt, but found it difficult to accept that all the independent allegations were totally without foundation.