Cut sees the international licence held by Rigby’s Executive Coaches downgraded to a national licence following numerous roadside prohibitions
An unacceptable rate of roadside prohibitions has led to the international licence held by Accrington-based Rigby’s Executive Coaches being cut from 22 vehicles to 13 and downgraded to a national licence.
The company, of Moorfield Industrial Estate, Altham, Accrington, had been called before Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans, who said that some of the issues were the same as those at a previous Public Inquiry in 2014.
Vehicle Examiner Robert Dalton said that a maintenance investigation was carried out in September. The company had all the necessary systems in place. The biggest issue was the roadside prohibitions being imposed.
He considered that there was a lack of care and concern by the drivers. Driver training had been undertaken and the drivers were being given clear instructions. He expressed concern about the standard of the inspections, saying that after 2014 the company put maintenance out to a third party. That was found not to be satisfactory and maintenance had been brought back in-house. The two fitters had both attended DVSA courses. It was an ageing mixed fleet that required intensive maintenance.
In January he inspected a coach that had been involved in an accident while carrying children. He issued an ‘S’ marked immediate prohibition because of six defects, four relating to brakes. As a result he visited the company again two days later. There were no issues with the paperwork.
He felt it was taking steps in the right direction, including the employment of a transport consultant and implementing enhanced driver audits, but it was still collecting prohibitions at the roadside. There had been a further prohibition in March, another two on 30 June and one the previous day.
Transport Consultant Michael Prescott said that he had been engaged in October to carry out audit inspections and training. He felt the company needed to rigorously pursue quality control with the drivers. There was a need to weed out the drivers who were repeat offenders.
Director and Transport Manager Bryan Williamson said that the driver who had been involved in two of the prohibitions had been encouraged to leave. The supervisor was now monitoring driver walk-round checks and one of the main culprits had now gone. He personally had gone on a two-day CPC refresher course. They were working hard to get things right.
The TC commented that things appeared to be getting worse. In the last five years there had been 104 encounters resulting in 36 prohibitions, and over the last two years there had been 26 encounters with 13 prohibitions.
Mr Williamson said that the intention was to replace the larger vehicles with mini coaches as it was the larger coaches that were attracting the prohibitions. In January they had replaced three 1996 vehicles with three 2002 vehicles.
Cutting the licence, the TC said that the company continued to receive prohibitions at an unacceptable rate. It had admitted that some drivers were still not doing as they should. The shortcomings mirrored those in December 2014 when the licence was cut for a short period.
