M&N: licence for two years
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• A company which committed 77 offences while operating under an interim licence was described as extraordinarily lucky by South Wales Licensing Authority John Mervyn Pugh last week, when he granted it a licence.
Tonyrefail-based Milgate Services, trading as M&N Transport, had applied for a new national licence for 10 vehicles and 20 trailers. It had been convicted of a variety of offences, including aiding and abetting the unauthorised use of vehicles, permitting drivers hours offences and operating defective trailers.
For the company, Mike Henderson said that the 27 offences involving the unauthorised use of vehicles all arose on the same day and were related to the purchase of vehicles by drivers.
Asked why the convictions had not been declared on the company's application form, managing director Malcolm Green said that he had signed the form before it had been completed by another director, and company accountant. He had assumed it would be filled in correctly. The director concerned had resigned.
Mervyn Pugh said that what worried him was that either Green had not known the facts, or had known them and had tried to conceal them. If he had not known, then what was he doing as a director? The company's repute as an operator was clearly in doubt.
Green said that the company had acquired premises and three new vehicles, but Mervyn Pugh pointed out that the grant of an interim licence was no guarantee that a full licence would be granted. Anyone who spent money on the strength of an interim licence was quite simply foolish.
Granting a two-year licence, Mervyn Pugh said that Green could consider himself extremely lucky that he was adopting such a course in view of the company's record.