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| One of Cleethorpes based Hough's fleet of coaches |
PASSENGERS with a Cleethorpes-based coach travel company could have been aboard vehicles with mechanical defects including faulty brakes, loose steering and even exhaust fumes leaking into the interior.
This emerged during an inquiry on the competence and safety practices at Houghs of Lincolnshire which prided itself on being the county's "premier coach holiday company!"
But the firm, which had its booking offices in Middlethorpe Road, is no longer trading having had its licence revoked by the Office of the Traffic Commissioner.
In the last five years, the firm had 10 'roadworthiness encounters' with three immediate prohibition notices issued.
The mechanical prohibition rate was 50 per cent against the national average of 18.34 per cent.
Record keeping and 'office culture' were also said to be sub-standard.
The worrying state of affairs emerged at a hearing conducted earlier this month in Leeds by Deputy Traffic Commissioner Catherine Moxon.
Said Ms Moxon: "There have been real and constant risks to road safety.
"I am concerned that, if this case is not heard with some expedience, there is a real risk that road users will continue to be put at a direct road safety risk.
"The evidence presently suggests that dangerous defects are not being identified by drivers and that brake tests are consistently non-compliant."
Expected to come under scrutiny at the hearing were the firm's proprietor, Richard John Hough, his wife, Rosina Elizabeth, and their former transport management assistant Amy Kate Wicks, now no longer with the firm.
Both Mr Hough and Mrs Wicks declined to attend, leaving Mrs Hough in the hot seat - and the commissioner could scarcely have been less impressed with the answers received to her questions.
She stated: "I have found Mrs Hough to lack credibility at the public inquiry.
"I do not accept that she has told the whole truth before me today.
"Her evidence on her involvement has been inconsistent and at times implausible.
"Mrs Hough has deliberately and inaccurately presented an account of herself in an attempt to divert blame away from herself. "
On a dispute between Mrs Hough and Mrs Wicks over who had over transport management responsibilities during the period when the vehicle defects were being discovered, the deputy commissioner said the former "knew she was the sole named transport manager at the relevant time"
She stated: "By the standards of ordinary decent people, anyone in her position would consider it to be dishonest to state otherwise and blame someone else.
She continued: "Mrs Hough’s evidence on her understanding of her responsibilities as transport manager was shockingly poor.
"She was clearly unaware of how poor her compliance management was when addressing me.
"I am critical of Mrs Hough for failing to obtain any continuous professional development since 2014 which is likely to have contributed to her present lack of knowledge and skill.
"During a short hearing, Mrs Hough has pivoted from seeking to assure me that compliance in being adequately handled to telling me that she does not know how to read a roller brake test print-out properly, that she has never been taught how to properly read a rolling brake test and that she would not know where to get this knowledge.
"The clear picture is that maintenance and compliance standards have been poor for a long time.
"I have no objective evidence that they have improved aside from the oral assurances of Mrs Hough on which I have been able to place no weight.
"This is due to my assessment of her lacking material knowledge, skill and motivation to manage the transport activities of the operator as well as the history of non-compliance under her watch."
In a written statement, Mrs Wicks blamed the Houghs for the poor office culture but this was disputed by Mrs Hough who blamed the staff, including Mrs Wicks, for failing to do their work which included declining to to take money and "erroneously telling customers that the business was in receivership".
During the inquiry, it emerged that discussions had been taking place between the Houghs and another coach company over a possible merger of the two businesses.
The Houghs had sought to have the inquiry deferred until after the proposed deal had taken place with the prospect that they might then not have had to be grilled by the commission.
This was a gambit that also left the deputy commssioner unimpressed. "It is likely that Mrs Hough was hoping to avoid the public inquiry process and adverse findings if the matter could be adjourned for long enough for the business to be absorbed by another company," she stated.
What next for Hough customers? PC Coaches of Lincoln have offered to honour pre-paid day-trips during December, but it seems unlikely that those passengers who had booked to go on January holidays to Aberfoyle in Scotland will be able to recoup their money - at least in the near future.
Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner has written to Mr Hough inviting him to explain whether or not he should be disqualified from holding another operator’s licence and from being a director of any company which holds such a licence.
Mrs Hough has been disqualified as a transport manager for "an indefinite period" and will be expected to complete training for a Transport Manager certificate should she wish to return to the industry in such a role.
In relation, to Mrs Wicks there is no further action.
Mrs Hough was not legally represented at the hearing and neither she nor Mr Hough have not made any public statement since the revocation. The firm's Facebook page seems to have been put into dormancy.
The firm, which is understood to have four coaches, has been told that all licence discs must be returned to the Office of the Traffic Commissioner, Leeds, no later than 4pm on December 5.
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| The booking office was closed last week but is expected to open - under new management - on Monday |
