A SWINDON coach company has been suspended from operating for ten days after being brought to a public inquiry over the maintenance of its vehicles.

Miles Coaches (Swin-don) Ltd, based at the Marshgate Trading Estate in Stratton Road, has been told by the traffic commissioner it is in the "the last chance saloon of vehicle operation".

The western traffic commissioner revoked its licence from October 19, and granted a new licence to begin on October 29.

But the new licence has some stringent conditions attached to it.

Giving evidence at the inquiry in Bristol, vehicle examiner Max Carr said the company's six vehicles had been issued with ten prohibitions in the last 24 months, including three which were issued during one fleet inspection earlier this year. In addition, the company's vehicles did not show a good initial MOT pass rate, with only two of nine vehicles passing first time.

And he said one prohibition issued to a vehicle was presented three times before it was cleared.

Mr Carr concluded: "The safety inspection regime is not sufficiently robust," and added that he thought contracting out future maintenance was the way forward.

Anthony George Berry, of the company, said he was confident that it could get the proper maintenance of vehicles right.

He told the hearing he felt aggrieved that vehicles were failing their annual tests on very minor criteria, including one vehicle which had a pane of glass in a door which did not carry British standards kite-mark.

"If needs be I will go on a proper course, if that's what is recommended," he told the traffic commissioner.

Mr Berry said the majority of his work was school contracts. "Our coaches are all old, but they are perfectly safe," he said. "I would be happy to take our own children on them."

When asked about contracting out maintenance, he said: "It is possible. We do the maintenance between us at the moment."

Giving his decision, traffic commissioner Philip Brown said the operator had failed to satisfy him that the safety arrangements were adequate. He said he would revoke the licence with effect from October 19 the start of the school half term holidays.

A new licence in the name of Anthony Berry and his brother Edward Berry, will take effect from the end of the school holidays but the firm will have to attend a public service vehicle maintenance course, and until that takes place, the operator must contract out his maintenance.

"It may be said that I have been over-generous to you, but I am prepared to give you this opportunity," he said.

Speaking after the hearing, Edward Berry told the Evening Advertiser that he didn't think it had been worth holding an inquiry.

He said it was "nothing but a load of old rubbish" that the firm had been ordered to take the maintenance course, because he had 40 years' experience in HGV servicing and took an MOT testers' course six months' ago.

And he insisted that his coaches, which are used to take Oxfordshire schoolchildren to school, were safe.

"I've got four grandchildren aged from 18 months to seven years old and I would happily take them on our coaches," he said.