BRIEFS Wheelnuts were loose
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• A prohibition notice for a significant maintenance failure led West Midland Traffic Commissioner John Mervyn Pugh to halve the authorisation on a tipper operator's 0-licence.
Anthony and Gordon Corbishley trading as Corbishley Bros, of Leek, Staffs, appeared before the TC at a Birmingham disciplinary inquiry Mervyn Pugh said the prohibition stated that two wheelnuts were loose enough to be turned by hand: the offside front U-bolts were loose; there were brake defects and the headlamp was misaligned. Anthony Corbishley said the brakes were adjusted every week and safety inspections were carried out every month. He thought that only one wheelnut had been loose.
They never found wheelnuts loose on the right-hand side: those on the left worked loose because they had a right hand thread. It was possible to change a wheel and find loose wheelnuts after 40 miles. said Corbishley.
He told Mervyn Pugh that he had been operating wagons for 30 years and this was the first time he had ever ended up at a public inquiry.
Mervyn Pugh commented that the firm had an appalling annual test record—its vehicles were failing every time on their first presentation.
Corbishley told the TC that they used asbestos-free brake linings which were very hard to bed in, but Mervyn Pugh commented that this was not the only firm to use such linings.
In reply to a suggestion that inspections should be carried out by a commercial garage, Corbishley said it was a question of what they would have to pay.
Mervyn Pugh told him that a price could not be put on safety, adding that he found it frightening that Corbishley had been inspecting the vehicles without having a DOT inspection manual. It was something that every operator should have in his possession.
Cutting the authorisation from six to three vehicles, Mervyn Pugh said that within 28 days he wanted to see a contract with a commercial garage for fortnightly inspections. Ile appreciated that Corbishley had been in haulage a long time but said that he had got to move with the times and keep up to date.
He warned Corbishley that if the firm's vehicles collected any more S-marked prohibitions it would be out of haulage.