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TC blasts `fraudulent' transport consultant
Page 28
Page 29
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Geoffrey Simms has revoked an operator's licence, warned every operator in his Traffic Area not to have anything to do with a transport consultant, and passed the case files to the police.
The Eastern Traffic Commissioner has delivered a damning indictment against a transport consultant and an operator whose licence was revoked after he accused them of a fraudulent attempt to continue operating.
So serious doesTC Geoffrey Simms consider the case that he has taken the unusual step of forwarding his decision and other relevant documents to the police for them to decide if criminal offences have been committed. And an operator said to be part of the alleged fraud has been banned from holding a licence in any Traffic Area.
The case centred on a licence belonging to Lincolnshire firm L&M Distribution, formerly owned by Lawrence Sykes.
However, Simms determined that the firm was being used as a front by transport consultant Malcolm Plaskitt and Paul Oven, whose company Paul Oven Transport Services (POTS) had had its licence revoked in January.
Simms said: "To provide the means for Paul Oven to overcome the revocation of his company's licence, Malcolm Plaskitt persuaded Mr Sykes to relinquish control of L&M."
He blasted Plaskitt, saying he was not a "fit and suitable person" to represent operators in future.
Operating centres
L&M Distribution had been trading since 1999,with two operating centres in Louth, Lincs. However, no vehicles had been listed on the licence since 15 were removed in May 2005. Until the summer of 2005 the director was listed as George Sykes, with Elaine Sykes as company secretary. They both resigned in July 2005 and a se des of people took over their roles until Kenneth Spoor andThelma Bauldiy were appointed later that year.
In November 2005 the Eastern Traffic Area received a variation application to move I .&M's operating centre to a site in Kings Lynn —the same address as POTS. L&M also changed its correspondence address to this address.
Just five days earlier POTS had received its first call-up letter to a public inquiry where its licence was subsequently revoked.
Independently of this the TC had been informed that there had been a change of ownership and a letter was sent to L&M asking for three months bank statements to prove that it was still of sound financial standing.
This letter was copied to MSP Legal & Training, a business owned by consultant Malcolm Plaskitt, who had previously corresponded with the Traffic Area over the licence.
Unsigned letters
The Traffic Area received three letters in response bearing the name of company secretary Thelma Bauldry,but unsigned,according to the TC.These were accompanied by a formal complaint (again in the name of Thelma Bauldry but unsigned) threatening action unless there was resolution within 14 days.
At the first hearing of the public inquiry on 5 June L&M director Kenneth Spoor said he had been introduced to Lawrence Sykes, then owner of L&M, by Plaskitt, whom he had known for 30 years.
Spoor said he bought the firm from Sykes in July 2005, but could offer no explanation for the five-month delay in his appointment as director.
The assertion that he had acquired the firm was contradicted by evidence from a senior traffic examiner who said he had visited the firm on 8 August 2005 and spoke with Lawrence Sykes who "treated L&M as his own business-. There was also no documentary proof that ownership had been transferred.
Spoor admitted he would be trading from a site leased from Paul Oven, but claimed Oven would have no involvement with the firm if he managed to retain the licence.
However, he said the firm would effectively be subcontracting for Oven.
Spoor said he had never metThelma Bauldry and was unaware of the correspondence between his company and the Traffic Area. He blamed Plaskitt for the absence of signatures on the letters.
The TC adjourned the inquiry until 7 August.
On the morning of that hearing the IC was presented with a statement describing how a vehicle operated by Paul Oven had been impounded by Vosa examiners, with whom Kenneth Spoor subsequently communicated.
This truck bore an 0-licence disc in the name of Transfreight (UK). Spoor had been a director of this company for just one day Thelma Bauldry is company secretary.
'Phis statement was served on Spoor and the hearing was adjourned again until 22 August. Prior to that date Spoor applied to surrender the licence, but this was refused. Spoor failed to turn up at the hearing on 22 August.
Pointing the finger
In his written decision TC Simms pointed the finger directly at Malcolm Plaskiti:"There is no plausible alternative to Mr Plaskitt, posing as Thelma Bauldry. making the variation applications and answering questions about financial standing.
"The truth is that he [Spoor] has allowed his name lobe used by Mr Plaskitt,acting on behalf of Paul Oven in a fraudulent attempt to overcome the loss of his company's Simms also lambasted Spoor for his conduct at the public inquiry, accusing him of lying over his relationship with Paul Oven, particularly when confronted with evidence that he had been using a truck on his behalf.
"Mr Spoor was not telling the truth when questioned at a public inquiry about his business relationship with Paul Oven," Simms added. "I le certainly did have a direct involvement with Mr Oven's transport activities and made himself a party to a deception by fronting a company being manipulated to his own knowledge by Malcolm Plaskitt for the ultimate benefit of the person whose licence had been revoked."
Simms disqualified Spoor indefinitely from holding or obtaining an 0-licence in any Traffic Area. He also passed details of Transfreight (UK) to the West MidlandIC. •