Repute intact but “severely tarnished”

An Essex operator has been warned by the senior traffic commissioner that it is on its final chance after the transport manager failed to exercise continuous and effective management.

Perry Road Transport appeared at a Cambridge public inquiry before STC Richard Turfitt after one of its lorries driven by transport manager David Pavelin was stopped and issued with an S-marked prohibition.

The vehicle had a deep cut in a tyre and it was not specified on the operator’s licence.

In a call by the DVSA to Perry’s office the enforcement agency was told another of its lorries was not in use due to mechanical issues, which was why the unspecified one was being driven.

This incident sparked a maintenance investigation into the Witham-based transport firm, which found discrepancies with preventative maintenance inspections for vehicles and they did not show who was conducting the inspections.

No break test reports or a forward planner was available, there was no vehicle off road or safety defect system and its driver defect reporting system was ineffective.

Company director Neal Clarke said the HGV that had been stopped had been rented out although no evidence was produced to support this. He also believed his transport manager should have been checking all defect reports.

The day before the PI, Pavelin sent a resignation letter to the office of the TC and he was apologetic in his response to the DVSA’s findings.

He accepted there had been failings in the compliance systems but he stressed it had not been deliberate. A new transport manager, Ashley Brown was nominated as the new proposed transport manager.

In his decision, Turfitt said there had been no continuous or effective management and Pavelin should have been aware of the requirements: “He asked me in his letter not to make adverse findings against him, as he did not intend to rely on his transport manager qualification again, but in evidence I was told that he may return to his employment,” he said.

“Faced with the possibility of a future application, I recorded adverse findings against his repute.”

However, the STC added that because a traffic examiner had found that the operator now appeared to be on top of its management duties to ensure compliance and there was a new transport manager being appointed he would mark its repute as not lost but severely tarnished instead.