1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160 
Muditts loses 0-licence, and receives five-year ban
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
by Michael Jewell and Chris Tindall Murfitts Transport, part of haulage giant Norfolk Line, has lost its 254-vehicle Operator's Licence and has been disqualified from obtaining a licence in any traffic area for five years.
The East Anglian haulier lost its licence following a Cambridge disciplinary inquiry in front of the Eastern Traffic Commissioner Geoffrey Simms. The hearing followed the conviction last year of 131 of Murfitts' drivers, one-third of its workforce in the Eastern Area, for a series of drivers hours offences including the falsification of tachograph records.
The TC was told that the Vehicle Inspectorate had also found vehicles that had not had two and six-yearly tachograph calibration checks, two vehicles with defective tachographs, 32 vehicles with speed limiter problems, the use of unauthorised operating centres at Tilbury and Thurrock, and the use of 13 vehicles after their excise licences had been surrendered (ChM Jan-5 Feb41.6-12 Feb).
In his decision, Simms says that it is quite frightening that a very large and long-established operator had no idea whether its drivers were obeying the law. It demonstrated a reckless disregard by both management and drivers to a very important road safety consideration. Management control had collapsed completely he says, adding: The new owners, Norfolk Line, are anxious to continue to operate Murfitts Transport under its established identity.
"That surprises me, because their relationship with this company casts a cloud over their own reputation, which had previously been beyond reproach."
The system by which the drivers' hours rules were monitored had completely collapsed. Norfolk Line appointed their own director to the board, Diederick Blom, and because of their reservations Introduced further elements into the system, But Simms says neither Mark Murrill nor Blom took sufficient interest in monitoring this.
"This company, which had at its disposal the means to operate in a satisfactory manner, has conducted its transport operations in a quite disgraceful manner," says Simms.
He had no power to disqualify former directors, but warned Murfitt and Blom that their repute was unlikely to be restored for five years. However, he held that Norfolk Line had not lost its repute, and granted its application to add 45 vehicles and 65 trailers to its licence, together with two operating centres at Whittlesey. Simms said he was satisfied that the systems adopted were sufficiently robust.
Norfolk Line group MD Derek Sloane says it is quite possible that redundancies will be made, but this was always a possibility. "We accept the responsibility," he says. "It's unfortunate for all the people who have put in so much effort. We have taken due steps, and we believe we have got the company on the right footing."
• christopher.tindall@rbi.co.uk