Light penalty for sharing licence
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Allowing an unlicensed operator to use its licence has led to the licence held by Poole-based Novahne being cut from six vehicles to five for 21 days.
The company had been called before Western TO Philip Brown at a Bristol disciplinary inquiry because of concern over its maintenance record and the apparent unauthorised use of the vehicle concerned.
Vehicle examiner Mark McGuiness said he had examined three vehicles during a maintenance investigation in March, and they were free of defects. However, 12 prohibitions had been imposed on the company's vehicles over the past three years, including one for a vehicle with a defective tachograph which became the subject of a variation notice when the vehicle was presented for clearance.
McGuiness added that mileage was missing from some of the inspection records and the six-week inspection period had sometimes been exceeded.
Director Philip Horridge said the inspection periods might have been extended because vehicles were delayed on the Continent, but they would have been inspected immediately on their return.
In reply to the TO, Horridge said Novaline had entered an agreement with TO Traction to hire a vehicle with a driver, who turned out to be proprietor Tony Norris. Norris was paid for the hire of the vehicle and a separate amount for his driving services. However, Norris, who did not hold an 0-licence, paid another driver to work for him.
The vehicle was stopped by the police, who noticed the licence disc was in the name of Novaline.
Horridge commented that he had genuinely believed they were doing things the right way, and the TO accepted that it was a genuine mistake.
Curtailing the ['pence, the TO said this would allow Horridge to address the problem with TO Traction. He remarked that the prohibitions alone would not have led to action against the licence.