Garrick switches to contract hire
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• Garrick Engineering Co, of Southport, Lanes had solved its maintenance problems by switching to a fleet totally on contract hire, a Manchester disciplinary inquiry heard. The company was also seeking to add three vehicles to its existing fivevehicle licence, and additional operating centres at Skelmersclale and &amber Bridge.
Vehicle examiner David Alcock said that he examined five vehicles in February. The two vehicles on contract hire were free from defects. However, he imposed an immediate prohibition, a delayed prohibition and a defect notice on the company's own vehicles. The company had no formal inspection arrangements for its own vehicles. The maintenance records for the contract hire vehicles were up to date whereas the records for Garrick's own vehicles were very poor. The problem was that the company operated from three locations and no-one had been given overall responsibility for the vehicles.
Director Peter Smith Crerand
said they had now disposed of their own vehicles and had five vehicles on contract hire. They had decided they had to do something very quickly to remedy the situation. The hire company was responsible for the vehicle maintenance.
One person had been put in charge of co-ordinating the vehicle operation.
Following a warning letter in October 1990 about overloading, they had purchased a rolling weigh truck to weigh each pallet and there had not been any overloading convictions since. They had spent a lot of time and money correcting the situation.
For the company, Fred Randle said that in common with a lot of own-account operators, the vehicles were incidental to the company's main business. They had relieved themselves of the problem by going over to contract hire.
Taking no action, and granting the variation, North Western Traffic Commissioner Martin Albu said it appeared that appropriate action had been taken to remedy the situation.