• Bad vehicle maintenance affects road safety. It causes accidents
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which can lead to people being injured, permanently disabled or killed. Consequently there is little sympathy for operators who flout maintenance rules.
This is one area of transport legislation where attack is the best defence.
Maintenance controls fall into two categories. There is the "You must not..." approach of the Construction and Use regulations and the "You must..." principle of the Operator Licensing system.
The C&U regs cover the maintenance of major parts like brakes, tyres, steering and so on. Other parts, such as springs, fifth-wheels and towing couplings, are subject to Regulation 100 which states parts and accessories of a vehicle must be in such condition that no danger is caused or is likely to be caused to any person in the vehicle or on the road.
While there are no statutory defences to charges of poor maintenance, some of the not-so-clear requirements have had the benefit of High Court interpretation which might stop hauliers from being fined for offences they did not commit or wasting money fighting lost causes.
BRAKE LINING
But if a vehicle's braking efficiency complies with the regulations, is it an offence to have one brake lining worn? The answer is yes. The law requires that every part of the braking system must be maintained, so even if a vehicle's overall performance is in order it is an offence for individual parts to be in poor condition, the High Court has ruled.
Remember too that the maintenance rule applies to any braking system fitted to a vehicle and not only those required by law. A tyre has to be inflated so that it is fit for the job. So do tyre pressures always have to relate to plated axle weights or can they be lower when the vehicle is unladen? According to the police they cannot, but the High Court said they can because pressures have to be fit for the vehicle at the time in question and not for a future occasion.
There are often doubts about whether a container is part of the vehicle or is it a load. Following a case where a container could not be fastened to a carrying vehicle because it was badly out of shape, the High Court ruled that it formed part of the vehicle and so if in poor condition was likely to cause danger.
If a person is convicted of a C&U offence relating to brakes, steering, tyres, or dangerous condition the court must not order any disqualification or endorsement if he can prove he did not know, and had no reason to suspect that an offence would be committed. While the criminal law deals with what an operator has done, a Licensing Authority looks more at what an operator will do in the future, when he is considering a licence application.
He has to be satisfied that there will be satisfactory facilities and arrangements for maintaining vehicles in a serviceable condition.
The onus is on the operator to make sure the information he supplies on the application form is good enough to convince the LA that vehicles will be inspected at the right intervals and either adequate facilities and staff are available to do maintenance work, or it will be done by a competent outside contractor. In the latter case the LA will want to see a written contract between the parties which sets out inspection intervals and what action is to be taken and by whom when defects are found.
DAYS WORK
The operator should also institute a drivers' defect-reporting system which ensures that drivers make a record of any defects that occur during a day's work, and action is taken to deal with them. It is advisable to keep these records along with a note of the action taken.
By putting his signature on the form the operator is making a statement of intent which, if not fulfilled, can result in action being taken against his licence. In the last LAs' annual report they noted that 338 cases of failure to fulfil a statement of intent on maintenance had resulted in disciplinary action.
Remember, there are no defences against bad maintenance and no sympathy for those caught.