A wheel loss incident in January has led to Hobans 1923 of Lillyhall, Workington to be called before a Public Inquiry by TC Gerallt Evans
A wheel loss incident in January led to Lillyhall, Workington operator Hobans 1923 being called before Traffic Commissioner (TC) Gerallt Evans at a Golborne Public Inquiry (PI) for consideration of action against its 15-vehicle international licence.
The TC said that the company’s Directors were Richard Hoban and Gadvoranun Hoban. The Transport Manager since June 2021 was Alison Burgess, who was employed by the company on a full-time basis. The wheel loss incident was reported by the company, and it led to an unannounced DVSA maintenance investigation visit on 11 January, when the vehicle concerned was issued with an S-marked prohibition.
The Vehicle Examiner’s (VE’s) unsatisfactory findings in the report were largely attributable to that matter. The VE found the wheel involved had not been correctly secured on its spigot and that was worn. The maintenance provider claimed that the wheel loss was caused by a failure to undertake the recommended third re-torque of the wheel. The company highlighted that the re-torque was not due at the point of failure and attributed the incident to the provider’s failure to spot the wear to the spigot.
Taking no action against the licence, the TC said that it was notable that the vehicle had not been used to any extent between passing its annual test on 23 December and the incident due to the Christmas interval. The VE was satisfied that the company had robust systems in place for wheel security.
The TC was satisfied the company had sufficiently strong measures in place for wheel
security and that a recurrence was less likely. Action had also been taken to raise awareness with the maintenance provider of the standards expected including arranging for a fitter to attend formal training alongside Ms Burgess.
He noted the company was proposing to develop its in-house capacity to undertake maintenance in future and he applauded that initiative.
Any wheel loss incident must be regarded as serious because of the risk of catastrophic consequences that it presents. However, the TC was struggling to identify a basis for criticising the approach of the company and the TM. Further, he was satisfied they had also taken steps to reduce the risk of recurrence and to strengthen their approach to compliance more widely.
