Fleet increase refused and licences revoked operator pays the price for ineffective maintenance standards

Poor maintenance isn’t acceptable from operators.
Those who don’t look after their vehicles properly put the safety of other road users at risk.
If an operator can’t get the basics right, they shouldn’t expect to be allowed to run extra vehicles.
A skip operator who appeared before the Traffic Commissioner, Richard Turfitt, recently found this out.
The firm applied to go from two to six vehicles. But, when DVSA visited, the examiner found no recorded brake testing, safety inspections stretched to 36 weeks, ineffective driver defect reporting and a 100% test failure rate at annual test.
Vehicles from a limited company were also being used on a sole trader licence.
Would you let this business run an extra four vehicles?
At public inquiry, the operator admitted he was:
• not up to date with the 2018 edition of the roadworthiness guide
• unaware of recent changes in test standards
• hadn’t undertaken any formal refresher training as a TM
The Traffic Commissioner said this had led to a situation where the licence holder was ignorant of the requirements. With better knowledge he might have avoided an S marked prohibition on a vehicle that was also found to be out of test.
Mr Turfitt turned down the fleet increase and made an order to revoke the limited company and sole trader licences.