Scrap licence scrapped
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
1 • A Fleetwood scrap metal merchant has been disqualified from holding or obtaining an 0-licence for six months.
Stephen Menton, trading as Fleetwood Metals, lost his licence because of poor maintenance when he appeared before North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Alan Cattell.
DOT vehicle examiner Michael Dobson said that three vehicles examined last October were all given immediate prohibitions. Seven prohibitions had been issued to Menton's vehicles; five of which showed significant maintenance failures. When vehicles were presented for clearance it was often refused because additional defects were found.
The inspection records lacked basic detail and bore no relation whatsoever to the condition of the vehicles, said Dobson.
Advice to have the vehicles roller brake tested had not been followed. A vehicle given an immediate prohibition in August had travelled 1,500 miles before the prohibition was lifted in September. One of the prohibited vehicles had never been specified on the licence; another, stopped by police while being driven by Menton, had no valid excise licence or test certificate.
Menton said that he had not been prosecuted over this incident, though he had been asked to pay back duty. The vehicle had been used after the local authority forced him to remove 20 skips from his yard over a weekend. He had a fulltime mechanic and now had a proper maintenance system.
For Menton, David Rimmer said that he employed 10 people and was working at the dirty end of the transport business, in skips and scrap metal. Menton, who had been granted his licence in July 1993, had been under pressure last year because of new environmental controls.
Sadly, said Rimmer, restricted licence holders did not require a CPC holder and they required help, particularly when starting a business.
Cattell pointed out that Menton's vehicles had received prohibitions in every year he had operated.