Less 0-licence for maintenance
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
/ Maintenance problems have led to the authorisation on the licence held by J&J Jones of Llandudno Junction being cut from 19 vehicles and seven trailers to 15 vehicles and six trailers by North Western Licensing Authority Martin Albu.
Department of Transport vehicle examiner John Brown said that following an accident last December he issued an immediate prohibition to one of the firm's vehicles for 19 defects, 17 of which were immediately dangerous. He felt that some of the brake defects might have contributed to the accident. There was a tyre with insufficient tread and another with the cords exposed.
Between 1986 and 1990 12 immediate and 15 delayed prohibitions had been issued. In October a vehicle was refused a test because it was in a dirty and dangerous condition; a trailer failed its annual test for low brake effort; and a vehicle had failed its annual test due to an air leak, an insecure wheel, an insecure steering box and a defective tyre.
John Geraint Jones, a partner, said that the vehicle involved in the accident had been totally refitted and he had tested it a week before the accident. He could only assume the braking defect was due to the driver.
Replying to criticism concerning the lack of an inspection pit, Jones said that his mechanic found that he could do the inspections better without a pit and had asked them to fill it in.
Albu said that in September a vehicle received an immediate prohibition for four items, including excessive smoke, at a roadside check. Asked why nobody had noticed the smoke, Jones said that the driver had not reported it.
After the LA had expressed concern about overloading convictions and prohibitions, Jones said that most of the vehicles were loaded away from base. Unless he was physically sitting in a vehicle he could not control the drivers. It was in their contracts of employment not to allow vehicles to be overloaded.
He warned that the partners needed to take action over maintenance before May when their Operator's Licence came up for renewal.