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Holiday handicap for haulier with maintenance problems
Page 35
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MAINTENANCE PROBLEMS, including a firsttime test failure rate of 100%, led to an operator losing its licence over a holiday weekend with a fleet cut until it improves standards. The firm was warned that its repute was "hanging by a thread".
The licence held by Liverpool-based Stuart Eperson, trading as Ram Express, was suspended over the August Bank Holiday weekend and its fleet was cut from three vehicles to two until North Western Deputy Traffic Commissioner Elizabeth Perrett receives a report from a reputable consultant engineer.
Eperson holds a licence for three vehicles and two trailers. Vehicle examiner Peter Turner said that during a maintenance investigation in June he issued two immediate prohibitions, one of which was Smarked showing a significant lapse in maintenance.
The safety inspection records were not complete and the description of defects was vague. Vehicles were not signed off as roadworthy. There were no inspection records for trailers. The stated inspection period of six weeks had been extended on five occasions to as long as 17 weeks. The driver defect reporting system was ineffective. The initial failure rate at annual test was 100%. 'Alio other immediate prohibitions had been issued in the last 12 months and the brake-related defects were worrying.
Turner felt that the former maintenance contractor had been unable to carry out effective preventive maintenance due to limited facilities.
Eperson said he owned one trailer: the others he pulled belonged to third parties. He had now changed his maintenance contractor.Tbe vehicle and trailer had been pre-booked for safety inspections until July 2006, with roller brake tests being carried out at every other inspection. He mainly used agency drivers and he had written to the agency about the importance of daily walk-round checks. He had arranged for a third party to carry out regular audits on his vehicle maintenance and was planning to get away from agency drivers.
The DTC warned that Eperson's repute, both as an operator and as a transport manager, was hanging by a thread.