0-licence is suspended • Concern over the condition of a
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vehicle operated by North Wales Audi and Volkswagen agent Dane Motor Co (Wrexham) led to its licence being suspended for a month by North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Patrick Mulvenna. Vehicle examiner Philip Carson said the company held a licence authorising the operation of two vehicles. A maintenance investigation in 1996, after a vehicle was presented for annual test in a dangerous condition, proved unsatisfactory and the company was subsequently given a formal warning at a closed meeting. He examined one vehicle in December, issuing it with an immediate prohibition for defective bodywork likely to cause danger. Inspection periods had become extended to three months and in one case more than four months. The last three inspection records had all noted bodywork defects. Traffic examiner Peter Edwards said 81 of 88 tachograph charts found in the cab showed the vehicle was being regularly parked away from the authorised operating centre. He suspected it was where the driver lived. Sixty-seven of the charts were more than 21 days old and should have been returned to the company by the driver, and 76 had no finishing destination entered. General manager Robert Marsden said he had joined the company in November. None of the original management team was still with the company. The vehicle had been taken off the road and they were considering replacing it with a new one. He admitted that he knew nothing about operator licensing. Sales manager Tony Fulton said that when he joined the company in January he found the systems to be lax. He was prepared to go on a course run by the Vehicle Inspectorate.
Mulvenna said he expected the company to use the suspension period to get itself into a position where it understood the 0licensing requirements and was able to put them into practice. He warned the company that the VI would be asked to review the situation in six months' time.
Mulvenna: Vi to review.