FTA saves 0-licence
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• North Western Deputy Licensing Authority Walter Birchall took no action against the licence of Direct Poultry Supplies (Inskip) Limited on maintenance grounds after he heard that it had now entered a contract with the Freight Transport Association.
Birchall was also considering an application to renew the company's seven-vehicle licence. Vehicle examiner Denis Smith said that when he carried out a maintenance investigation the company was operating six heavy goods vehicles and 11 light vehicles.
Every vehicle was given either a prohibition notice or a defect notice; one immediate prohibition, two delayed prohibitions and 11 defect notices being issued. The system of inspection had been erratic with no regular pattern.
FTA representative Michael Selby said the company had been considering joining the Association even before the vehicle examiner's visit. It had since become a member and had contracted for the FTA to inspect its vehicles every 12 weeks.
The FTA had produced a wall chart for the company with pre-prograrruned inspections at four-weekly intervals. A large amount of money had been spent on vehicle maintenance but had been misdirected; initial FTA inspection had revealed many defects but there was now a marked improvement.
Director Edmond Etherington said he accepted that the company's facilities had been mismanaged and misapplied in the past and that probably its mechanic had not been sufficiently supervised.
Renewing the licence Birchall said that it was unfortunately the case that many companies spent thousands on maintenance but did not apply it properly.