Haulier disqualified for lamentable' offences
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AN ESSEX HAULIER has had his 0-licence revoked and been disqualified from operating vehicles and from being a transport manager for two years, because of a "lamentable" catalogue of offences.
In a written decision following a public inquiry in Eastbourne in May, Nick Denton, South East traffic commissioner (TC), said Chigwell-based Farrakh Manzoor — authorised for four vehicles — had jeopardised road safety.
During the hearing, the TC was told about a police encounter with one of the firm's vehicles in October 2012.
An officer found a damaged metal plate covering the wheel nuts, which could have harmed cyclists or pedestrians. In another incident, a driver
was stopped trying to drive away from a collision. The truck, which wasn't insured and was found to be running on red diesel, had hit a bollard, which ruptured the vehicle's fuel tank, causing fuel to spill onto the road.
Three of the firm's trucks were found to be operating without insurance.
Police records confirmed that there had been no tax paid on a vehicle, but Manzoor told the TC the disc had "probably fallen down the windscreen".
Further police evidence suggested drivers' hours breaches had taken place. At a previous public inquiry in 2010, a TC curtailed the firm's 0-licence from 10 to four vehicles and attached nine safety undertakings. However, Manzoor
failed to comply with them.
The TC said the history of the licence, particularly Manzoor's "lamentable failure" to abide by the undertakings at the previous hearing, meant it was "extremely unlikely" the operator would comply in the future.
He added: "A licence cannot survive failure to comply on so many issues at the same time: vehicle fitness, drivers' hours, defect reporting, tax, insurance, and illegal fuel, especially since these failings have been continuing, uncorrected, for several years."
Summing up
The TC said Farrakh Manzoor needed a substantial time away from the industry to reflect what went wrong.