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LE Jones has licences suspended
Page 20
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The licence held by maior North Wales hauler LE Jones has been cut from 60
vehicles to 40 and suspended for three weeks by Welsh Traffic Commissioner David Dixon. The TC also cut the licence held by its sister company, LE Jones international, from 40 vehicles to 30.
During the hearing it was claimed that more than 500 offences had been uncovered following an investigation by the Vehicle Inspectorate. The frequency and type of offence was said to be as bad as
anything previously encountered by the VI in North Wales. However, MD Trefor Lloyd Jones maintained that the companies' drivers were not given jobs which forced them to break the law. He said he had been unaware that speeding by drivers was a problem (CM 21-27 Feb and 7-13 March).
Vehicle examiner Philip Carson said that over the past five years 27 immediate and 28 delayed prohibitions had been imposed on the combined fleet. Last June he had examined 13 vehicles and 12 trailers. One vehicle had attracted an immediate prohibition for a worn tyre; four other vehicles were issued with delayed prohibitions for defective brakes. The situation with the firm's trailers appeared to be completely out of control—in most cases there were no regular inspections and failures at annual test were common. However, Carson conceded that the brake defects had been a manufacturing prob
lem, with cracking Mercedes brake discs.
Former workshop manager Bill Swift had claimed that about 35 trailers had been used without a current test certificate while Jones' designated test station was out of action.
Steven Alis, appearing for both companies, said Swift had been made redundant at very short notice and was no doubt hostile when interviewed.
Carson said that though there were gaps between the expiry of test certificates and trailers being retested, there was no evidence that the trailers had been used in between.
Cutting the two licences, the TC said that the maintenance standard had not been good enough for a haulier of this size. He added: "My inevitable conclusion is that they did not have proper arrangements in place to ensure that the rules were complied with... I am particularly concerned about speeding." The TC called for an additional transport manager to be appointed before the end of May.