The licence was cut after it was discovered that ABS wiring had been tampered with
Maintenance problems have resulted in the licence held by Wigan-based S&D Executive Hire being cut from 12 vehicles to 10 for eight weeks by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Simon Evans.
The company, of Hindley, Wigan, appeared before the TC at a Golborne Public Inquiry.
Vehicle Examiner Anthony Wilson said that a maintenance investigation was carried out following the issue of an ‘S’ marked prohibition for an ABS light fault.
In reply to Scott Bell, for the company, Mr Wilson said he became concerned that when the alternator light went out so did the ABS light. That aroused his suspicions. He sought to access the wiring and saw that it had been tampered with so it worked in conjunction with the alternator and not independently.
Due to the wiring being protected and not open to the elements, he was unable to say how long it had been like that. In his opinion it was done to make it look as though the ABS was working properly and it avoided the cost of any repair.
Mr Bell said that the vehicle had its last MOT in December 2016 and the company had owned the vehicle for 10 years. No history of any ABS fault could be found and no repair to any wiring had been undertaken.
Transport Manager John Edwards said that he had taken over the role in March. He had initiated a maintenance audit, improved the driver walk round checks, appointed new people to carry our inspections, formed working relationships with expert commercial repair companies and provided a point of contact to all staff.
ABS wiring to the dashboard was a common fault on BMC Probus vehicles. However, he had personally looked back for seven years and could not find any reported faults with the ABS or any remedial work carried out to the wiring. He felt that possibly the wiring had been subject to alteration before the company acquired the vehicle, as the repair was of a 'crude' nature and was not the standard of work carried out by the company's electrical repairer.
Since his appointment there had been significant investment in the fleet – he had taken on board and acted upon references made in an audit report, and had booked himself on a CPC refresher course.
In his decision the TC said that there was no evidence as to who tampered with the ABS wiring, when or whether it was carried out before the vehicle was purchased. It was nevertheless the case that the company deployed a vehicle on the road fitted with a braking system, the safety features of which had been overridden for reasons unknown. The prohibition rate was 31% over five years and now 39% over two years.
His concern was that though the company was seeking to improve its record, prohibitions remained at an unacceptable level and evidence was not available that it had truly turned the corner, although the signs were hopeful.
