New trucks 'disaster' for Suffolk haulier
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D A Suffolk haulage contractor, W. G. iarvey Ltd, of Stowmarket, told the .1stern deputy LA, Mr Gerald Kidner, ast week that the purchase of new vehicles ad amounted to a complete disaster for is company.
In evidence during a Section 69 inquiry ft F. G. Cooper, a director of the cantany, said that since 1967 he had had othing but trouble with new Scammells nl Leylands. "The Scammells," said Mr ooper, "spent as much time in the orkshop as on the road." Failures had eluded gearbox and engine faults, cracked iassis and clutch failures. From the operatg point of view it had been disastrous d resulted in his company spending on 'airs and maintenance an average of
£12,000 per year until last year when the vehicles were replaced.
The court was told that the company had attracted six GV9s in June this year on its fleet of nine vehicles and 11 trailers. Of these, said Mr Cooper, one immediate was a result of an inexperienced driver jacking up a trailer and damaging a brake connection. The remaining five GV9s were delayed and related to coupling pins being welded rather than replaced.
A vehicle examiner giving evidence disagreed with Mr Cooper's suggestion that the jacking would have caused the brake damage referred to. As to the welding of pins, the examiner said that this was not good engineering practice. It was true that the trailers had passed their tests in this condition because they were not disconnected at tests and the fault would not have been noticed.
Summing up, Mr Kidner said that it was clear no money had been spared to maintain the fleet properly. "Repair costs had been astronomical." He accepted that much of the trouble was a hangover from the time when the company was stretched to cope with the fleet of new vehicles which were giving much trouble. However, there had been a steady stream of GV9s. The licence was curtailed by eight vehicles and two trailers for the life of the licence, the remaining licence would then be further curtailed by suspending two vehicles and two trailers for two months.