Licence cut due to bad maintenance
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• A total of 52 prohibition and defect notices have led to the 48-vehicle licence held by Swanbrook Coaches of Cheltenham being chopped by Western Traffic Commissioner MajorGeneral John Carpenter so that it ends this October, instead of October 1989.
Vehicle examiner Nigel Maiden gave evidence of a spot check on the firm's vehicles last December, when 27 vehicles were examined with the issue of 10 immediate and three delayed prohibition notices.
Maiden said that a number of the prohibitions were varied when vehicles were produced for clearance.
The fact that a number of defects were noted on the firm's inspection records confirmed that there was insufficient preventative maintenance.
A check on the records of 10 vehicles showed periods between inspections of up to 16 weeks; some records were unsigned and others had no distance recorded.
Swanbrook's vehicle inspector, Nigel Smith, said he had set up a system of preventative maintenance 12 months before which had had teething problems. By the time of the vehicle examiner's visit the company had discovered problems itself, which it had tried to put right, and the vehicle examiner had highlighted others. The number of workshop staff had since been increased.
Workshop foreman Geoffrey Hooper said things had gone wrong in the past because there had been no system to work to. With the new system introduced by Smith, however, he was satisfied the company could get the maintenance right.
Cutting the duration of the licence, Carpenter said there was enough evidence for him to take drastic action. He was not there to persecute operators, however, but to see that the public was protected. There would be a further fleet check in October, and if that produced a bad report, he would act.