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Licence slashed after skip found to have serious defects
Page 37
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A vehicle stopped by police because the skip body was leaning could have killed or seriously injured someone. Mike Jewell reports.
A SKIP OPERATOR has had its licence cut from seven vehicles to three for offences including running a unit in a dangerous condition and operating unspecified trucks on its licence.
The authorisation on the licence held by Chesterfield, Derbyshire-based James William Thompson & Partners, trading as JW Thompson & Sons, was reduced by the North-Western Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell.
Vehicle examiner Michael Bale told a St Helens public inquiry that a skip vehicle travelling on the Ml in July was stopped by the police as the skip body was leaning to one side. When he examined the vehicle he found a number of serious defects. The box skip was extensively damaged and twisted, and could not be locked on the rear of the vehicle. When the driver attempted to demount the skip, the vehicle became unstable and ti.pped over. He agreed that that could have happened at the destinaLion, killing or seriously injuring someone.
Bale found a series of problems during a maintenance investigation. However, he felt that the partners wanted to get things right and the problems had been compounded by their personal circumstances. He felt they needed outside assistance.
For the company, Gary Hodgson said the maintenance contractor had been changed. He added that there would be an independ ent quarterly audit of vehicle condition and systems, and the engineering consultant concerned was to undertake driver training.
The TC said that when the Traffic Area Office (TAG) was informed that James William Thompson had retired , it informed the firm that it required a new licence. The firm replied that it had been decided that he would remain in the partnership as a consultant. However, the accounts showed that he had not remained as a partner and the TC concluded that the TAO had been misled.
Partner Alison Thompson said that when she was told by the TAO that the firm needed a new licence,she had mistakenly thought she could leave that until 2009 when the licence was due for review. She added that the business had been downsized. Reliance had been placed on the previous maintenance contractor. The firm had not been able to get anyone to check the skips periodically and certify they were in good condition.
Transport manager and partner John Thompson said that if the vehicle involved in the incident had continued on its journey, the skip would not have come off and would have been unloaded by grab at its destination. He added that they had followed every detail of the vehicle examiner's advice, but accepted that vehicles had been hired in without being specified on the 0-licence.
Cutting the licence, the TC said the vehicle examiner had found an -appalling situation" and she took a serious view of the unauthorised use of the licence. However, she would allow the business to continue in its present format for three months to give time for a new application to be made. •