LA tells other areas of maintenance defects
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THE SOUTH WALES Licensing Authority, Mr Ronald R. Jackson, is to circulate his fellow LAs in other traffic areas about the maintenance situation in the two South Wales depots of Bristol Ames Plant Hire Ltd.
Refusing to renew the licence for one of two low loaders used by the company in South Wales, he said at a public inquiry in Cardiff, "I am far from satisfied that this company is capable of maintaining the two trac tive units and trailers they have in their possession and I suspect that the fitting staff at both Port Talbot and Cwmbran depots are basically used to maintain the items of plant rather than looking after the vehicles.
"I am therefore only prepared to grant at this stage one tractive unit and one trailer".
The LA said that at the end of a three month period he would ask the senior area mechanical engineer to carry out a further inspection and if it was satisfactory he would be prepared to grant the other vehicle.
The LA was surprised that a company of this size and with the amount of plant and vehicles they had did not have a uniform system of maintenance.
He said he would send a transcript of the proceedings to the LAs in the five other traffic areas in which the company held licences.
The company's area manager Mr Alan Charlton had told the LA a number of GV 9s had been attracted because of staffing difficulties. The Port Talbot maintenance staff had been replaced and now there were a foreman, a charge hand and four fitters to look after four vehicles and 44 items of plant.
At Cwmbran there were a working foreman and two fitters servicing five vehicles and 76 items of plant.