School bus 'dangerous'
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• A coach operator who used a dangerous vehicle subject to an immediate prohibition to carry schoolchildren has been allowed to stay in business.
Derbyshire companies CH Redfern and Allan Burton (Coaches), which operate from the same premises in New Mills, have been allowed to continue for 12 months by North Western Traffic Commissioner Martin Albu.
Vehicle examiner Geoffrey Davison said he had carried out spot checks on the vehicles of the two companies following a complaint about the condition of a coach from a member of the public. He issued three prohibition notices, two with immediate effect, and two defect notices. Redfern was subsequently fined 21,000 by Stockport magistrates on two offences of using a prohibited vehicle. In each case the vehicle had been carrying schoolchildren, and the gravity of the defects did not bear thinking about.
One of the prohibited vehicles had defects resulting from accident damage. That vehicle was taken to Lawton Bodies for repair; it was still at Lawton Bodies and a director of that company had told him that it would not be released until unpaid bills had been met, said Davison.
Managing director George Rawson said he had mistakenly thought the vehicle used while subject to a prohibition had received a delayed prohibition. In the absence of his mechanic, the sheet listing the defects had been given to a YTS lad to repair and he had lost it.
Rawson maintained that the defects had been rectified before the vehicle was used, though the prohibition was still in force; he added that the complaint involved a vehicle that allegedly wandered all over the motorway — but when they brought it in they could find nothing wrong.
After Albu had said that that had not been what the complainant and the driver had said, Rawson said he had only been a part-time driver and that Allan Burton Coaches had not traded for 12 months, and would be wound up at the end of March.
The intention was to operate all seven vehicles in the name of Redfern, being licensed for six with one spare. He employed a skilled fitter who was responsible for the maintenance records and for schedul ing inspections every six to eight weeks.
Taking no action, Albu said he accepted the explanation for the convictions. He was not happy about the maintenance, but he was prepared to give Redfern one more chance. A variation application must be lodged to authorise six vehicles on the Redfern licence, consequent upon the surrender of the Burton licence. That would be granted for a year.
If there were any further maintenance problems, the hence would not he renewed and that would be the end of it.