Longton's licence on the brink
Page 18
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The twovehicle national licence held by Norman Longton of Chorley, Lanes has been revoked by North Western Licensing Authority Martin Albu. The LA has also refused to handle Longton's application for a fresh licence until the declared operating centre has been amended and advertised — he
said he would grant interim authority for Longton to operate once the amendment had been made.
Department of Transport vehicle examiner Alan Singleton told a Manchester public inquiry that he had been ordered to carry out a maintenance investigation following the issue of four immediate prohibition notices and complaints about the poor condition of vehicles presented for annual test.
He made several attempts to contact Longton without avail. Eventually he arranged an appointment for November, but Longton rang on the morning to say he would be unable to keep the appointment as one vehicle was stripped down and the other had been sold.
Longton said that he had permission to use someone else's maintenance facilities and he said he was a time-served fitter, although Singleton would not believe him. Since submitting the renewal application he had changed the address of his operating centre.
Revoking the licence, Albu said that he did not consider that Longton had been maintaining his vehicles properly and he was unable to grant him a new licence, as the information contained in the present application was incorrect.
Saying that he hoped that Longton would co-operate with the vehicle examiners in the future and that he was taking his word he would have the vehicle regularly maintained, Albu warned that if he went on the road with a defective vehicle again he would lose his licence for good.