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Curtailment for lending discs
Page 29
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The TC tells a haulier that his licence was only saved by human rights legislation after he lent his licence disc to another operator.
A LONDON plant hire firm has had its 0-licence curtailed by two vehicles out of six for a month after an inquiry heard that the company had allowed another operator to use some of its licence discs and had failed to notify an overloading conviction and a change of operating centre.
Bow Haulage, which holds a licence for six vehicles and six trailers, had received nine defect prohibitions. Fred Randall, for the company, claimed seven of these were for trailers that it had taken to the test centre for another operator. It had also lent licence discs to this operator which it now realised was wholly wrong.
Licence curtailed Bow Haulage of Wick Lane London was appearing before South-Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner Christopher Heaps at an inquiry in Eastbourne. The TC curtailed the licence to four vehicles throughout December.
Heaps told Bow's director Paul O'Grady that his repute has been changed for the worse: "The deliberate lending of the licence discs impaired your repute. Before human rights legislation this could have led to revocation but I now have to use the proportionality test.
"I am giving you another chance. Your licence could have been destroyed by what you did — I hope not to see you here again."
Bow Haulage had been convicted of an overloading offence by Barking magistrates in August 2004 but had not reported this to the Traffic Area Office. The company had moved from its operating centre at 413 Wick Lane to 616 Wick Lane months ahead of the application for change being granted. Vehicle Examiner Chris Ballantyne had visited 413 Wick Lane in February and found it was a building site.
Traffic examiner Syedul Ali met O'Grady in November 2003 and asked to examine recent charts. O'Grady said this was not possible because his briefcase containing the charts had been stolen. Charts that were examined included 24 breaches of the 41/2-hour driving period and incorrect use of the mode switch.
No problems At the inquiry O'Grady produced recent tachograph charts. Ali examined them and said there were no problems with these. However, earlier charts presented to the inquiry revealed evidence of speeding offences. "Three go pretty well off the top of the chart," the TC remarked.
When asked by th e TC, O'Grady said his business could not function without six vehicles. He was currently operating four and was about to add another two to fulfil contracts which included work for McAlpines, the Channel Tunnel and Birmingham Airport. "If the licence was revoked it would finish us," he said, adding that his business employed 20 drivers, including those working on plant machinery. •