A Raglan timber contractor has been suspended from running his vehicles for 28 days after failing to meet safety standards.

Rob Morris, of Little Castle Farm, Raglan, was told to stop operating on the 16th September by the Deputy Traffic Commissioner for Wales, Anthony Seculer.

He is also prevented from running his vehicles on any other licence while the suspension is in force.

Mr Seculer's decision followed a public inquiry at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on 09 September 2013.

During the hearing, the Deputy Traffic Commissioner was told that defective vehicles used by Mr Morris had been stopped by government inspectors.

Two were found with critical safety defects, one of which had 10 out of 10 wheel nuts loose. On that occasion, a fixed penalty was issued because of the imminent failure on the road wheel.

The Deputy Commissioner also noted that other vehicles had been given prohibition notices for defects on the brakes, tyres and wheel nuts.

In July 2012, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) conducted an investigation into the operator's licence held by Mr Morris, which allows him to run HGVs commercially.

The examiner inspected vehicles and a trailer, issuing prohibition notices due to the defects he had found.

He also examined the procedures Mr Morris needed to have in place to keep vehicles roadworthy.

Paperwork relating to routine safety inspections was found to be missing or incomplete, the examiner noted. He added that defects reported by drivers, when they conducted daily safety checks on vehicles, were not being repaired by the operator.

The examiner also said that some drivers were not recording these properly, having failed to pick up long standing defects.

He was later told by the maintenance contractor employed to carry out routine safety checks that vehicles operated by Mr Morris had not been seen for months.

Mr Seculer noted that vehicles were also failing their MOTs.

After hearing evidence from Mr Morris during the inquiry, including the remedial action he had taken, the Deputy Commissioner made an order to suspend his licence for 28 days from 16th September. He also ruled that the vehicles could not be used by any other operator during that period.

Mr Seculer recorded a number of undertakings on the licence, including for Mr Morris to attend a full day operator licence awareness course by the end of October.

In addition, Mr Morris voluntarily reduced his licence authorisation from two vehicles and three trailers to one vehicle and one trailer.