Trailer cracks queried
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• Cracks in the chassis and cross members of semitrailers brought Oakham-based CS Ellis (Group) before Eastern Traffic Commissioner Brigadier Compton Boyd.
The Commissioner was considering taking disciplinary action against the company's licence, together with its application for renewal for 30 vehicles and 50 trailers.
Vehicle examiner John Leyland said that a maintenance investigation in December 1990 showed trailer maintenance was inadequate. There were gaps in the inspection records and inspection periods were exceeding 10 weeks for trailers in regular use. An investigation in October 1991 revealed that trailer inspection was still not adequate, there being up to four months between inspections in one case, and a warning letter was sent.
It In June 1992 six vehicles and six trailers were examined and three trailers were given immediate prohibitions because of chassis cracks. But there were no problems when six vehicles and trailers were examined in a check earlier this month. There was a marked improvement in trailer chassis condition, he said.
In reply to Ian Rothera, for the company, Leyland said that the incidence of cracking on Ellis' trailers was a lot higher than with other operators with similar sizes and ages of fleet.
Rothera said that when a crack got to the stage of needing repair was a matter of opinion. Operations director Trevor Ellis said he thought a possible factor in the cracked chassis was the carriage of bagged cement where the weight was concentrated towards the centre. And some of the delivery points had less than adequate access. He believed that some of the cracks had been missed on inspection as the previous practice had been, like the test station, to inspect the trailers while still coupled to the tractor.
Warning the company, and renewing the licence for the full five years after hearing details of improvements to the system, Boyd said Ellis had been guilty of allowing the system in relation to trailers to go "a little pear shaped".