Vehicles for farm must be maintained if used on road
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• A variation of the arrangements made for the maintenance of its vehicles was admitted when J. H. Cobden (Farms) Ltd, of Martock, Somerset, applied to the Western LA at Taunton last Friday for the renewal of the licence for two of its three vehicles.
A vehicle examiner. Mr Donald Sergeant, gave details of defects and said the condition of the vehicles indicated a tack of periodic inspection.
The firm's transport manager, Mr Geoffrey Alexander, said they had a contract with a garage for their vehicles' maintenance but instead they were taken for repair to mechanics employed at an abattoir owned by the main family firm.
He said the vehicles were used almost entirely in fields and seldom on the highway during the summer months.
The firm's managing director. Mr David Cobden, gave an undertaking that in future the vehicles would be taken regularly to the independent garage for service.
He was told by the LA, Maj-Gen Sir John Potter: "While it may be of great importance to you that these vehicles should earn as much money as possible, it is far more important to ensure that they are well maintained and put in for regular inspection."
He said that however long a vehicle might spend on a farm it had to be kept in good condition for the time when it would be driven on the road.. It was not a case for revocation or suspension of the licence but there would have to be a penalty.
He ordered the curtailment of the licence which would have the effect of putting one of the two specified vehicles off the road for two months from April 4.