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Improper use ends licence
Page 22
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A Liverpool haulier said to have allowed his licence to be ised as a front for Hawthorne Trading Transport Services— a company run by Kathleen Long, wife of disgraced haulier Anthony Long—has lost his licence. Robert Taylor, trading as AT Transport, of Liverpool, had been called before the North Western Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell at a Wigan disciplinary inquiry; he held a licence for eight vehicles and 12 trailers.
An application for a new national licence for five vehicles and five trailers by Hawthorne with Taylor specified as the transport manager was withdrawn.
The IC said a number of the vehicles specified on Taylor's licence were registered in the name of Hawthorne and were insured in that company's name. There was a letter from Hawthorne, signed by Kathleen Long, stating that Taylor rented part of that company's premises and used its garage for maintenance purposes.
Traffic examiner Peter Ilsley said that a Check of Taylor's tachograph records for January-March 2001 revealed thousands of unrecorded kilometres. Attempts had been made to contact Taylor for an explanation but there was no response. Ilsley accepted that a possible explanation for the unrecorded distance was that it related to hired vehicles that had been returned to the hirer before again being hired in.
Vehicle examiner Peter Turner detailed six prohibitions issued to Taylor's vehicles. He agreed that five of the prohibitions related to semi-trailers. He said that of the eight vehicles specified on the licence, two were registered to Taylor and five to Hawthorne.
Taylor said that until October of last year he had been operating two vehicles. He then came to an arrangement with Kathleen Long that he could hire Hawthorne's vehicles and trailers and do their work. Hawthorne looked after the expenses, including the cost of the maintenance and the drivers, and they planned to settle up at the end of the year. Most of the work was acquired by Kathleen Long and she organised the price. Kathleen Long did all the paperwork and organisation, said Taylor, leaving him to instruct and schedule the drivers.
He did not have any invoices for hiring the vehicles as the cost transfer was han
dled by internal audit. As far as he wa: aware Anthony Long had no input into eithe his business or Hawthorne's.
Taylor said the Longs were long-tern friends and Kathleen Long had approachec him with work just before her husband Waf. released from prison for smuggling fuel. Al the vehicles currently operated belonged tc Hawthorne, who taxed them, insured their and maintained them. The drivers were pale by Hawthorne and they were hired to him. He would be paid a percentage of the vehicles' earnings at the end of the year.
Agreeing that Anthony Long had driven a vehicle, Taylor said that he had done this as a favour. The Hawthorne application had been withdrawn after he had told Kathleen Long that he no longer wanted to be its transport manager.
Holding that Taylor had lost his repute, and revoking the licence with immediate effect, the TC said that in reality Taylor's licence was used as a front by Kathleen Long for her illegal operation. It was plain that the user of the vehicles was not Taylor but Kathleen Long through Hawthorne. However, she could not be satisfied that Taylor had conspired with Kathleen Long and felt it was more likely that he had been duped by her, Bell indicated she would be prepared to grant Taylor a fresh licence for no more than two vehicles in the future if he could show that he had no further connection with Hawthorne and the Longs.