Lodge can double up
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• Barnsley-based Alan Lodge Road Haulage has successfully bid to double the number of artics on its 0-licence — despite past problems over its trailer maintenance.
North Eastern Deputy Licensing Authority Brian Horner approved Lodge's application to add five vehicles and seven trailers to his existing licence for five vehicles and eight trailers, after hearing that Lodge was already operating three additional tractor units under an interim licence.
Evidence was given that a vehicle examiner inspected two vehicles and two trailers in November, imposing an immediate prohibition and a delayed prohibition on the trailers. Lodge had been prose cuted for defective brakes after one of the trailers had been in an accident in July, and a similar defect was present when it was inspected in November.
Thomas Stratford, the Sheffield district manager of the Vehicle Inspectorate, said trailers were an area where quite a few operators got into trouble. They were not under the control of any particular driver and were often left at various sites. Consequently they required careful monitoring if inspections were not to be missed.
Lodge said that in the past seven months he had spent 24,498 on trailer parts. Since the vehicle examiner's visit, a full-length pit had been completed and the first mechanic relieved of driving duties.