High maintenance Ensuring goods vehicles are safe
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High maintenance Ensuring goods vehicles are safe and roadworthy is a vital part of road safety, so should the firms that carry out truck maintenance be subject to some kind of minimum standard? We asked CM's operator panel members for their views Words: Pat Hagan At the Commercial Motor Live conference in October 2012, senior traffic commissioner Beverley Bell accused the industry of doing nothing about regulating workshops or mechanics.
"Why doesn't the industry have a standard?" she asked. "At the moment, a maintenance contractor can set up with no experience and no knowledge of the industry and a mechanic who is trained to repair washing machines could become a truck mechanic."
She called for the industry to have one benchmark — akin to the Gas Safe Register — and claimed trade associations had provisionally backed the idea.
But could such a scheme really work?
CMs operator panel members are split on the subject. Some believe it would drive up standards, others fear it would favour the big operations geared up for coping with the red tape that goes with such initiatives, while driving out smaller technically proficient firms that struggle with bureaucracy. • SPEAKING OUT Liam Quinn Owner driver, Quinn's Transport, Shipton-by-Beningborough,York Quinn is wary of an accreditation system, mainly because he fears it could be hijacked by larger franchised truck dealers best-equipped for coping with the form filling and jumping through hoops that such schemes sometimes require.
"The bigger garages are very good at telling everybody how wonderful they are, but in my experience they often do not do what they say they can," he says. "In fact, with the smaller garages you are in a better position to discuss things with them. I use a small local garage and the boss is there any time day or night if I need him.
"The same garage recently lost a haulage client to a franchised dealer. Six months down the line the haulier was presented with a £3,000 bill for brake repairs. When he asked to see the records of all the brake inspections the franchised garage had done over the previous six months, they hadn't done them at all."
Chris Roe MD, Alert HGV Training, Leicester "Fundamentally, it's a good idea," says Roe. "But the question is whether it will interfere with operators being able to choose where they get their work done."
He shares the concern that such a scheme would favour bigger maintenance providers rather than the small independents.
"There is a bit of a risk that it could turn into a boxticking exercise," says Roe. "But the smaller garages just need to up their ante — their documentation can sometimes let them down."
He is adamant that any costs incurred should not be passed on to hauliers.
"It's up to the maintenance providers to bring themselves up to scratch — not the haulage industry," says Roe.
John Hunt Driver, Brian Palmer Haulage, Mendlesham, Suffolk Hunt questions the need for such a scheme and points to sub-standard foreign vehicles plying their trade on Britain's roads as a much bigger problem.
"Where is the accreditation system at Dover for foreign trucks as they come off the boat? There isn't one but there should be," he says.
He fears small workshops, or even hauliers who do their own maintenance, could face a significant increase in costs from any scheme.
"The only time I've ever had a problem with maintenance was with the bigger service centres. At one of them, some young lad on a job scheme put oil into the windscreen washer jets. That was at a main franchised dealership.
"The truth is we don't need it here, but some other countries do."
Paul Arthurton Owner, Paul Arthurton Transport, Norfolk Arthurton agrees with the principle of an accreditation system but feels a more fundamental issue needs to be addressed before it can go ahead. That is when a vehicle fails its MoT, yet the full responsibility falls on the shoulders of the haulier, with no comeback on the maintenance provider.
His argument is that if garages are doing their job properly, failures should be very rare events and if they do occur, it should go down as a black mark against the maintenance provider as well.
"As long as I get the vehicle to the garage in good time, why should a failure rest entirely on me? It is part of my undertakings that I will ensure vehicles are roadworthy at all times, but that should not be my sole responsibility."
Charles Burke Owner driver,TRS Engineering, Rhonda Valley Having recently dealt with people specialising in electrical installations for buildings, Burke fears the truck maintenance sector is being left behind. As such, he thinks an accreditation scheme is long overdue.
"I was impressed with the qualifications they have to have and the number of refresher courses they go on. I think a similar scheme in our industry would help although it's inevitable that it would drive up costs very significantly."
That said, he fears there's a danger the red tape involved could drive some excellent employees out of the industry.
"There's no doubt some will leave the industry for other sectors. In the aircraft industry, for example, an average fitter can earn more than £40 an hour. In our sector, some garages charge a lot less than that."
Ed Pargeter Director, EP Training, Leatherhead, Surrey An accreditation scheme would help drive up workmanship and ensure garages comply with pre-determined quality standards, says Pargeter.
But he, too, fears for the future of some excellent but single-handed technicians who might not have the time or resources to administer such a scheme.
"The paperwork could be a downside for them. It must not be allowed to penalise those guys who can actually do the work but may not be that good at the administration."
Martin Barnes Project manager, Charles Gee and Co, East Hunstpill, Somerset Barnes backs the idea but agrees that the best way to drive up standards is to make maintenance providers just as responsible for failing vehicles as the operators who entrust them with the service and repair work.
"Until we change the rules so that the provider becomes as responsible as the operator for failing to maintain the correct standards we are not going to get anywhere. Every single fitter should be on an accredited training programme."
Panel verdict • An accreditation scheme is a good idea in principle • There's a danger it could get bogged down in red tape • Small independents could lose out more than larger franchised outlets • Any scheme should make garages as well as operators liable for failures