Cowan promises changes
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Two vehicles have been cut from the licence held by Hartlepool-based John Cowan through maintenance problems. Cowan, who held a licence for eight vehicles and six trailers, appeared before North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Brian Horner at a Leeds disciplinary inquiry.
Vehicle examiner Keith Gilligan said six immediate and two delayed prohibitions had been issued to Cowan's vehicles in the past five years, plus two variation notices and a refusal to clear. He examined three vehicles and four trailers in September 1999 and issued a trailer with an immediate prohibition for a tyre flat spot. The same month a vehicle was given an immediate prohibition, endorsed significant maintenance failure, after a wheel and hub assembly detached. Cowan had received two warning letters and at a public inquiry in February 1997 one vehicle and one trailer had been suspended for a month. Since then five immediate prohibitions had been issued. In reply to the DC, Gilligan said Cowan had made efforts to address the problems and made some improvement. Cowan said he thought the wheel had become detached because the brake had overheated and melted the grease in the bearings. He was updating his fleet and in two to three years he would be operating new vehicles, Asked about five convictions for gross overloading at Teesside in August, Cowan said the driver had been allowed to leave Hartlepool Docks overloaded; he had subsequently been sacked. All the vehicles now had self-weigh equipment. The unauthorised use conviction arose after he bought a truck and forgot about the 0-licence.
The DC said it was disappointing Cowan was again at a public inquiry for maintenance problems. He was amazed the dock authorities had allowed overloaded vehicles to leave the docks.
The DC asked for a maintenance investigation in 12 months' time and said there was room for improvement. Further problems would mean the licence would be in jeopardy.