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BRS loses six: clearer control needed, says LA
Page 40
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-nRs Ltd. said that indecision on the part of BMC was partially responsible JP for the issue of 20 GV9s in respect of trailers operating from Redditch depot. The trailers, some of which were 16 years old, were used to transport partly-built BMC vehicles from Longtuidge to Cowley. The Redditch depot operates 10 vehicles and 26 trailers, and Mr. J. Else, the West Midland Licensing Authority, suspended six vehicles for one month at Birmingham on
Monday.
Mr. F. Collins, BRS manager, West Midland area, told Mr. Else that these vehicles which were fitted with Scammell automatic couplings, were operated exclusively for BMC. For some time BMC had been considering a change to fifth-wheel coupling, and during the period of its deliberations insufficient attention had been paid by BRS to the preventive maintenance of the trailers.
In January a decision to retain automatic couplings was taken by BMC, and BRS immediately ordered 15 new trailers. Mr. Collins told Mr. Else that nine of the trailers had been delivered and the balance was expected by the end of this year. He added that he now understood BMC had changed its mind and was reverting to fifth-wheel coupling.
In addition to the customer factor, Mr. Collins told the LA that the standard of preventive maintenance had been measured by the amount of money being spent and not on the results which had been achieved. The Redditch depot was spending £21 per week on trailer maintenance.
Explaining the supervisory element in the BRS maintenance system, Mr. Collins said that the district engineers had no power to take a vehicle out of service, they could only suggest to the person responsible for operating the vehicle that this should happen.
Mr. Else said that this was fundamentally wrong. He felt that a commercially minded branch manager could not be expected to refuse traffic and that he should not be put in the position of having to decide what took priority; traffic or maintenance.
Mr. H. L. Seccombe for BRS submitted that the failure was a human one. BRS had now merged its Redditch depot with Bir mingham, supervision had been tightened and the West Midland district engineer had been vested with the authority to remove vehicles from service as he considers necessary.
Mr. Else said that BRS had what appeared on the face of it an excellent maintenance system, but he considered that there should have been a more clear cut line of responsibility.