Manager concealed convictions
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aNo action was taken against the licence of a Nottinghamshire international haulier after North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Brian Homer heard that convictions for concealing assets recorded against the haulier's mother, who was his nominated transport manager, arose after she was threatened over her late husband's debts
The Deputy TC had been considering disciplinary actIon against the two-vehicle/twotrailer licence held by Newark-based Mark Eley, trading as M&N Transport, This followed Ann Fley's convictions under the bankruptcy laws for which she was given a four-month suspended prison sentence.
Mark Eley said that after his father died his mother was pursued for his father's debts. He had not notified the convictions because they were not transport related.
Asked what part his mother played in the business, Eley said she checked the tacho
graph records and made sure the systems were running properly. In reply to the Deputy TC, Eley said his mother's financial problems had not had any impact on his business whatsoever.
Ann Eley said that her husband's estate was made bankrupt because of his business debts. It transpired that he had borrowed money from undesirable people. She and her family were threatened over the phone late at night and she became more frightened of them than the legal system.
She did not declare money as it came in for work done by her husband's business and left it in carrier bags in the garden shed. She had gained nothing from the offences She agreed that it might have been better if she had called in the police but said that she had been too frightened.
For Eley, Paul Carless said it was not a case of a deliberate attempt to defraud creditors.
Taking no action after hearing financial
evidence in private, the Deputy TC said that Mark Eley had had an exemplary record as an operator. He was quite satisfied that there was adequate finance and he did not feel the business had been affected by the unfortunate events.