Meridian transport skipping Philips CDM4

[Monkey King]

Hello, I am seeking some advice concerning a tracking problem I've been having with my old Meridian 602 transport (Philips CDM4 mechanism). The player would skip very badly for the first few tracks of any CD I play, with the error light indicator flashing continuously when it skips. Later tracks are less likely to skip, but there is still occasional skipping. After about 30 minutes of use everything plays fine again. I have also noticed that when I touch the player it sometimes gives off a light static charge.

Does anyone know what might be wrong with the transport? i.e. why it stops skipping after a certain amount of time. The lens appears to be quite clean. I have also noticed that the transport noise is a little louder when tracking early tracks (i.e. track 1, 2, 3) than when it plays later tracks (4, 5, 6 etc).