Douglas given another chance
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• Kettering haulier Rodney Douglas, trading as Douglas , Transport, has been granted a fresh licence for seven vehicles, for a probationary period of 12 months, following the revocation of his existing eightvehicle licence by Eastern Licensing Authority Brigadier Compton Boyd.
Douglas had held a licence since 1970 and had appeared at two previous disciplinary inquiries, in 1974 and 1984, as a result of poor maintenance. In addition, in March 1985 he had been sent a warning letter about maintenance. In October 1987 one of his vehicles had received an immediate prohibition in a roadside check.
Two vehicles had been seen by a vehicle examiner in April, one being given an immediate prohibition and the other a delayed prohibition.
Both prohibitions had been varied when the vehicles had been presented for clearance, and a vehicle presented for annual test had been given an immediate prohibition. Douglas had also been convicted over drivers' hours, overloading, unauthorised use, no two-yearly tachograph check and excise licence offences.
A vehicle examiner said that inspections had been carried out by an outside garage, with Douglas doing the rectification work. Douglas was only semiskilled, however, and he believed that that had been where the problem had been.
Initially Douglas had sought renewal for 15 vehicles but said that, with all the problems he had been having, he did not feel that he could cope with the additional vehicles.
He had thought himself capable of doing the work but he was obviously not skilled enough. The garage had now agreed to carry out the repairs themselves until he was able to get a properly fitted garage of his own.
Douglas said that with the nature of his work, tipping, a lot of time was needed to repair damage. Boyd said that if he could not cope with that, then he should get out of tipper operation, and was concerned about public safety.
Dealing with the excise offence, Douglas said the vehicle concerned had been laid up during winter. The form had been filled in and the cheque made out and, as he was taxing the vehicle for that month, he assumed it to be covered.
Boyd said that that was one of the convictions he took very seriously, as it was a good way of cheating on competitors.
Revoking the existing licence, Boyd said he was not going to have operators coming back to public inquiry time after time.
He had considered the issue of renewal separately.
Accounts showed that finances were good and Douglas was not shirking his responsibility.
He granted renewal for seven vehicles for 12 months on condition that he received a contract for the maintenance and repair of the vehicles from the commercial garage within 14 days.