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DTC gives removal company last chance
Page 26
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MARK HINCHLIbbh, the North-Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner, has taken no action against the licence held by a Lancashire removals company, but he has rejected its application to double the number of vehicles authorised on its licence.
David and Dawn Bird, trading as Clarks Removals, of Lytham St Annes, had sought to increase their licence authorisation from two vehicles to four — the licence had been cut to two vehicles following a public inquiry in 2004.
Vehicle examiner Paul Wilson said that during a maintenance investigation in March 2008, he found that safety inspections were not being carried out at the stated intervals, and that one vehicle was being used without a current test certificate. A promise made by the firm at the last public inquiry to arrange quarterly roller brake tests had been broken.
This situation was found to be unchanged in January 2009, when one vehicle was issued with a prohibition order for having an unsealed tachograph.
Asked why he had broken the promise made in 2004, David Bird replied: "Ignorance probably': He added that he did not know why, because there was no reason why roller brake tests should not have been made.
He claimed that the company had started roller brake tests immediately after the vehicle examiner's visit in January and had given a number of undertakings regarding the company's future maintenance arrangements.
Indicating that the firm had been brought to the brink of disaster, the DTC warned that any failure to comply with the undertakings would cost the firm its licence.