Revoked from New Year
Page 19
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A Wrexham skip hire operator, whose untaxed vehicle was found to be in a dangerous condition, and who was using an unauthorjsed operating centre, has had his licence revoked with effect from the beginning of the year.
And Welsh Traffic Commissioner David Dixon disqualified Philip Green, trading as PH Green Skip Hire, for three months.
Vehicle examiner David Collings said he was on duty in March when he heard an approaching vehicle making an excessive amount of noise. The vehicle was laden with an empty skip and was not displaying a vehicle excise licence.
An examination of the vehicle led to an immediate prohibition endorsed significant maintenance failure. The steering could have failed at any time, wheelnuts were loose and other defects related to tyres and brakes. The vehicle was a considerable source of potential danger. Green was fined £600 for a number of offences. He had previously been convicted of using an untested vehicle and an uncalibrated tachograph.
The previous excise licence had expired in October 1998 and study of the tack records confirmed the vehicle had been used regularly, said Collings. No maintenance records could be produced and the maintenance contractor said the only time he saw the vehicle was to carry out running repairs.
Green had admitted he had not used his authorised operating centre at Minera for at least 12 months and had been parking the vehicle on land close to his home. In 1996 Green had apparently sought to mislead another vehicle examiner about the use of an operating centre.
For Green, John Hopkins said the vehicle was working on the hostile environment of building sites and tips where damage to exhausts was an occupational hazard. Inspections had previously been informal. Since April records had been kept of inspections every six weeks.
Asked why the vehicle had not been taxed, Green said it had been quiet and he had been a bit lax. He agreed he had been short of money. The Commissioner said the vehicle had been in a pretty dreadful state and the maintenance records had been in a meddle.