Firm warned after contractor let it down
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A Llanelli operator who tried to remain loyal to nearby business had a spate of problems after entrusting the maintenance of her two vehicles to a local contractor.
When Nia Margaret Thomas, trading as Tawe Agricultural, appeared before Welsh Deputy Traffic Commissioner Alan Jenkins at a disciplinary inquiry she told him that she had now dispensed with the contractor's services.
Vehicle examiner Keith John told the Port Talbot hearing that Thomas's vehicles had been issued with six prohibition notices to date, despite having all the necessary preventive maintenance systems and an annual test pass rate higher than the national average.
He added: "It appears that defects had been missed by the maintenance contractor, Inspections are being carried out on time, but the gaps between them are too large."
Thomas told the hearing that her reservations about maintenance started last year when she wasn't absolutely sure that her contractor was carrying out his work properly. Her husband, Dewi Thomas, who works as a driver and services the vehicles, said he caught the contractor out following the issue of a prohibition for five defects in February.
"After that, I deliberately didn't inform him of the prohibition and put the vehicle in for a check over," he said. "He looked at it and reported in writing that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. We run a local business and we try to keep people involved in the business as local as possible."
Issuing Mrs Thomas with a final warning, the OTC said: "I am satisfied that you did all you could in respect of the operation of your business." But he concluded: "If any contractors let you down on maintenance, you carry the can."