Five vehicles are cut from licence
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• North Eastern DLA John Hampton has cut five vehicles from the 0licence of Leed-based tipper operator Kenneth Moorhead.
Moorhead appeared before a Leeds public inquiry following maintenance problems. He held a licence for 15 vehicles and one trailer in possession, with three vehicles to be acquired, Vehicle examiner Andrew Barr said he had carried out an investigation following the issue of a number of prohibition notices at the roadside.
He inspected seven vehicles and issued one delayed prohibition. Barr considered the preventative maintenance to be unsatisfactory, as vehicles had been prepared for his visit. Inspection periods had been increased from five weeks to eight, and vehicle reports were not complete.
Barr agreed that a maintenance investigation in 1989 was satisfactory, apart from the lack of a system for drivers to report defects. That had been put right by the time of the 1990 investigation, He also accepted that it was difficult to keep vehicles working on rough ground up to scratch — but said that it was not impossible.
Moorhead said the vehicles were used for earth moving; 12 other earth-moving vehicles had also been maintained by his staff, but their maintenance had been contracted out in the summer as it was getting too much. He realised there was a problem following the vehicle examiner's visit, and he had since disposed of five vehicles and had tried to introduce newer models into the fleet.
Inspections had been contracted out and were being undertaken at four-weekly intervals: last year he had spent 2170,000 on parts alone.
In reply to Hampton, Moorhead said that there were maintenance problems in 1986 which led to a public inquiry (CM 1 November 1986) but after that things had been kept in control until February 1989.
Hampton said that Moorhead had a warning letter in June 1989, but matters had still deteriorated. It seemed that the maintenance staff had been overworked: maintenance and inspection had to be frequent, thorough and careful, as the vehicles received hard wear. Moorhead had not kept sufficient control over his staff, and the inspection periods had become extended for no reason. Hampton said he was bound to impose a penalty in such circumstances.
The DLA warned that the next step would be the revocation of the licence.