Cornish coach operator Trevellyan Jackett has been disqualified from acting as a Transport Manager (TM) for two years after his eight-vehicle licence was revoked by Traffic Commissioner (TC) Kevin Rooney because of concerns over vehicle maintenance.
Mr Jackett, trading as Jackett’s Coaches of Albaston, Gunnislake, had been called before the TC at a Bristol Public Inquiry but failed to appear. Mr Jackett, who told the TC he had ceased operating ahead of the hearing, was authorised to operate from premises in Callington and Gunnislake.
Vehicle Examiner (VE) William Honey said that three vehicles were given immediate prohibitions for safety critical defects. One had a serious electrical fault, the second had a brake pad missing and an excessively worn brake disc, while the third had a weakened interior floor which was likely to collapse.
During a maintenance investigation, he identified that vehicles had not been given routine safety checks on time; defects identified by drivers were not being repaired for significant amounts of time; the recent annual test history was inadequate; maintenance inspections were carried out without appropriate facilities and equipment, or by unqualified individuals; and that a vehicle was being kept at a location which the TC had refused to authorise.
On a separate occasion, a VE found five out of six tyres on a vehicle driven by Mr Jackett were seriously defective and imposed an immediate prohibition. The VE concluded that the condition of the tyres could have led to a blowout. Records revealed that Mr Jackett had completed a vehicle defect check sheet before using the vehicle on the day and had recorded no defects.
On 15 December 2016, one of Mr Jackett’s vehicles collided with pedestrians crossing a road. Two people were injured, one seriously. A subsequent DVSA investigation concluded that although there were defects present on the vehicle, they had not contributed to the collision. On 30 June 2016, one of Mr Jackett’s coaches lost a wheel, which struck another vehicle.
Making the revocation and disqualification orders, the TC said that nature and number of defects on vehicles was “wholly unacceptable”. It was inexcusable that Mr Jackett had not only driven a vehicle with seriously defective tyres, but also failed to identify those defects during his daily walk-round check.
He was “clearly in the habit of putting passengers and the public at serious risk”. His failure to manage his mechanic, along with his personal disregard for the driver defect reporting system, meant that his repute as a TM was lost.
