Curtailment and suspension for Peak Trailers
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• in view of the fact that the fleet of vehicles and trailers operated by Peak Trailers Ltd, Stockport, had received a total of 12 prohibition notices since May 1970 and the company itself had been prosecuted on two occasions the North Western LA, Mr C. R. Hodgson, decided in Manchester last week to curtail the company's 0 licence by six vehicles and 12 trailers, all unacquired, and also to suspend two specified -vehicles for a period of 14 days from April 1.
The court heard that Peak Trailers, which initially had a licence authorizing 34 vehicles and 28 trailers, had a poor history of preventive maintenance and had, in fact, received a letter of warning from the LA after the first nine — three immediate and six delayed — prohibition notices had been issued.
As a result of these GV9s and the fact that the company had been prosecuted for operating a vehicle with a. dangerous load and also for operating a vehicle with defective brakes, further enquiries were made into the firm's methods of maintenance and maintenance arrangements and facilities.
It was stated that two vehicle examiners visited Peak Trailers on several occasions and found that maintenance standards in general were poor. On the last of these visits only 10 inspection sheets were produced relating to the full fleet.
For the company, Mr J. Backhouse told the LA that the difficulties had stemmed from a rearrangement of conditions in 1970 when seven factories were all combined over a 12-month period, giving one large working area. However, although all the vehicles and trailers now operated from this one base, maintenance was still carried out at the outside depots.
In his submission Mr Backhouse suggested if any action should be taken it should only be a curtailment of the margin, to remove specified vehicles would cause Peak Trailers considerable hardship.
On deciding to curtail the licence, however, Mr Hodgson pointed out that the company had employed the same traffic manager for 15 years and that he had had time to familiarize himself with the new system and improve maintenance matters.