WESTBURY firm Ross Hillman has been told it may have to take its fleet of 19 lorries off the road from January, after the trucks repeatedly failed safety tests and the firm was twice fined for operating lorries with faulty speed limiters.

The problems meant the firm's lorries were sometimes being driven with unsafe brakes, were on occasions being driven too fast along Wiltshire's roads and may have been operated by drivers who were over their hours.

The sand and gravel merchant, of Station Road, Westbury, is free to apply for another operating licence if its performance over the next two months proves satisfactory, a public inquiry by Traffice Commissioners in Bristol was told.

Over the last five years the firm's lorries have failed safety checks on 27 occasions. In July examiners who spot-tested 17 vehicles recorded a 42 per cent pass rate, well below the national average.

The firm was recently fined a total of £800 at two separate magistrates courts' for speed limiter defects.

Area manager for the Vehicle Inspectorate Ken Hopley, who carried out July's spot-checks, said: "Four of those vehicles failed for brake deficiencies.

"A robust, planned system of maintenance was missing. But to the company's credit, they have now installed a forward planning system.

"Inspection reports were of a suitable type but I found some were not completed properly."

He added there was very little evidence that walk around checks were being properly supervised, and said vehicles had been issued with prohibitions as recently as last week.

Traffic examiner Nigel White said: "From the tachograph charts produced, it was apparent that the speed limiter was not restricting the vehicle at 90km/h, and there were speeds of up to 100km/h recorded."

He said that on nine vehicles the speed limiter was clearly not restricting the speed, and the mode switch was not always being used correctly, which caused difficulty in identifying whether the drivers were taking their rest periods.

Managing director Keith Hillman, head of the family firm which has been in business since 1949, told the hearing: "I wasn't aware there was a speed limiter problem until two of our vehicles were stopped.

He said he had notified all drivers that they must not exceed the speed limit or tamper with the tachographs.

He has now appointed his son Martin Hillman as foreman fitter for the vehicle fleet in an attempt to tackle safety issues.

Giving his decision, Western Traffic Commissioner Phillip Brown said he was making no findings against the repute of the operators, but said: "I find that the operator's maintenance failing do make it necessary for me to take action against their licence."