Haulier drove on a ban
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a. • A haulier who continued to drive one of his . vehicles despite being disqualified from driving has lost his Operator's Licence at a Cambridge disciplinary inquiry. Alan Marshall, trading as Amtrans, of Moulton, Northampton, held an international licence for four vehicles and one trailer. He had been called before Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Ian Fowler.
Vehicle examiner Lata Sudra said an examination of Marshall's tachograph charts between April and June showed he had been driving despite being disqualified in February. Marshall said he had been unaware of his disqualification until April. When Sudra pointed out that there were eight occasions when he had driven since April, Marshall had said he had continued to drive because he could not immediately find a suitable replacement driver.
Vehicle examiner Christopher Barnett said one vehicle issued with an immediate prohibition far a brake defect took four attempts to clear. Another vehicle was given an immediate prohibition because the load sensing valve was disconnected and wired up. It transpired that it had been disconnected to get the vehicle through annual test and had never been reconnected. Because this was not picked up by Marshall's maintenance contractor between April and November it threw doubt on his competency. There had been three unsatisfactory maintenance investigations over the past 19 months, said Barnett, and Marshall appeared to have a cavalier attitude towards the maintenance of his vehicles.
Agreeing that convictions for tachograph offences had arisen out of working excessive hours, Marshall said he had since given up the work concerned. He felt there had been maior improvements to his maintenance system over the past year. Previously he had given too much priority to delivering the customers' goods. Revoking the licence with effect from 18 October on the grounds that Marshall had lost his repute, Fowler said he had admitted knowingly driving while disqualified for his own business purposes.