Pandoro northern fleet is slashed...
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by Mike Jewell • One of the UK's largest operators, P&O subsidiary Pandoro, has had the number of vehicles it is allowed to operate in the North of England cut by twothirds after its maintenance record was slammed as "horrifying".
The company appeared before North Western and North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchliffe to explain why its vehicles were attracting so many prohibitions. It was also asked to answer for a conviction at Liverpool Crown Court in August 1997 following a chemical spillage, for which it was fined <£17,000.
For Pandoro, Jonathan Lawton said the Crown Court judge had been satisfied that the company had done everything it could, but he could not ignore the potential gravity of the accident.
Vehicle examiner John Fielden said that an inspection of two vehicles and 18 trailers at Pandoro's Leeds depot in June resulted in the issue of four immediate and six delayed prohibitions, eight of which were for a significant failure in maintenance.
The items listed included defective brakes, insecure wheels and suspension components and defective chassis components. Fielden agreed that the problem was predominantly with trailers. Lawton said that every time a trailer came through the ports it was given a thorough check by a trained fitter.
Three fitters had been given final written warnings and one had been sacked for not carrying out those checks thoroughly enough after trailers had been given prohibition notices. Lawton said the company's system had been let down by "four fools".
Pandoro engineering operations manager Martin Clark said there were around 360,000 trailer movements a year, 95% of them to and from Ireland, with each trailer entering the country 20 to 30 times a year. The company had been horrified by the results of the maintenance investigation. Procedures had been altered and the system had been tightened up.
Cutting the company's North-West licence to 80 vehicles and 1,500 trailers, and its North-East licence to 10 vehicles and 100 trailers, Hinchliffe said significant disciplinary action was required because the maintenance situation had been horrifying. 041 '
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