Final warning given over maintenance • Maintenance problems have led
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to the licence held by an Oldham tipper operator being cut from five to four vehicle& Gary and Harvey Bolton and David Holt, trading as Harvey Wild Bolton & Partners, were called before North Western Traffic Commissioner Keith Waterworth at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry Vehicle examiner Graham Brock said he had carried out a maintenance investigation in January following the issue of prohibitions showing a significant maintenance failure. He examined one vehicle and issued an immediate prohibition for six loose wheelnuts.
A total of eight immediate and five delayed prohibitions had been issued to the firm's vehicles in the past five years. The defects raised doubts about the quality of the inspections and driver defect reporting. The firm's maintenance staff also carried out vehicle maintenance for other operators and did work on private cars, said Brock.
Partner Gary Bolton said it had been decided to stop all outside maintenance work and as a result David Holt had left the partnership. He personally had taken over the supervision of the maintenance side. Each vehicle was now inspected every night for damage caused on site. The company now used markers on the wheelnuts to indicate whether there was any movement and the period between inspections had been reduced from four to three weeks.
After Bolton had said drivers were given blank duplicate books in which to report defects, Waterworth said this was unacceptable. He wanted a system to be introduced similar to that described in the DOT's Guide to Roadworthiness.
Bolton commented that a vehicle said to be untaxed had been taken off the road through a shortage of work.
Curtailing the licence, and issuing the firm with a final warning, Waterworth said there had been continuing concern over the years about the maintenance record of this firm and its predecessors He was getting to the stage where he would not allow the licence to continue unless the firm's performance improved substantially.