Poor road safety record costs firm transport licence

IRISH haulage firm Nolan Transport — one of the biggest transport companies in Europe — has been refused an operating licence in Britain over its poor record on road safety after its vehicles and drivers clocked up more than 4,000 breaches of traffic and vehicle safety legislation in the past five years.

Traffic Commissioner for Wales, Nick Jones, recently rejected Nolan’s application to operate a fleet of 30 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and trailers from its depot in Swansea, claiming its conduct had “jeopardised both road safety and the need for a level playing field with competitors”.

Nolan, which is based in New Ross, Co Wexford, operates 430 HGVs and more than 1,000 trailers.

Mr Jones said the standards of Nolan’s vehicles operated on British roads were “consistently lower than the minimum acceptable”. He criticised Nolan for attempting to blame customers for problems with the overloading of vehicles.

“The lack of responsibility for overloaded vehicles is unacceptable,” said Mr Jones, who claimed any British haulier with a similar record would have their operating licence revoked.

He also expressed concern about comments made by Nolan that transport rules were “not high” on the company’s list of priorities after it had suffered a 25% drop in turnover in 2010.

At a public inquiry last month it emerged that British transport inspectors had recorded 4,167 breaches of road safety legislation against Nolan Transport over five years up to June 2010, including 819 mechanical faults with HGVs and 1,560 defects with trailers. It was also found to have broken laws governing drivers’ hours on 1,106 occasions, as well as 682 incidents of overloading. Almost 90% of problems with Nolan’s trailers last year were defects with their brakes.

Nolan’s application for a British licence was objected to by the Road Haulage Association in what industry sources claimed was “an unprecedented move”.

The Traffic Commissioner said the RHA’s concerns were justified, adding that Nolan would need to bring “significant changes” to its operations if it was genuine about improving standards.

The British Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, which enforces compliance of legislation governing HGVs, told the inquiry that Nolan Transport only “put things right when pushed” and that the company would need make a “vaster improvement” to compare with British hauliers.

Company director Richard Nolan expressed disappointment with the ruling and claimed the 4,000-plus breaches had to be seen in the context of Nolan trucks covering 50 million kilometres every year.