Licence revoked after hire investigation
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Plan A Logistics’ licence was taken after Vosa uncovered failings in its hire and maintenance arrangements
By Roger Brown
WoLVERHAMPToN-BASED Plan A Logistics has had its o-licence revoked following a Vosa investigation into vehicle hire and maintenance arrangements at the business.
In a written decision, following an April public inquiry (PI) in Birmingham, traffic commissioner (TC) for the West Midland Traffic Area Nick Jones disqualified boss Derek William Woolley from holding a licence for five years. The TC also disqualified Savpreet Singh Aulakh as a transport manager, saying he may be able to return after three years when he has re-taken and passed fresh transport managing examinations.
Plan A was granted a standard national o-licence in August 2008 for five vehicles and two trailers.
Vosa traffic examiner Tracy Love told the PI how a vehicle was stopped during a check in the Blackwell Tunnel, London, in August 2011. It was not specified on any o-licence, and the driver held charts showing one daily rest offence, which a local traffic examiner dealt with by way of a verbal warning.
Copies of the hire agreement – which should have been with the vehicle to demonstrate it was within the 28-day grace period – were not with the driver.
The driver, who was not carrying his required digital card, said he had been working at Plan A Logistics for a month and was hoping to be taken on full time.The examiner contacted the operator using the number given by the driver. A representative of Plan A Logistics told Love he would fax the hire agreement to her, but this was never received.
The subsequent Vosa investigation into the company concluded that vehicle hire and maintenance paperwork at the business were dubious, and that there were missing tachographs.
Vosa vehicle examiner Andrew Male also told the hearing that on first visiting the haulier’s yard in May 2011 he was told goods vehicles hired by the business were usually “spot hired as required” , and were not normally kept at the site.
Male visited the hire company, Smethwick-based MHL, and was told by staff there that they did not know either Derek Woolley or Savpreet Aulakh, and that the vehicles Plan A Logistics claimed had been hired from the company were not owned by them. When Love asked Woolley if he had any explanation, his reply was: “I don’t understand why they say they don’t know me.” In July 2011 Love wrote to the operator asking him to produce missing documentation, but received no reply.
TC Jones said: “No attempt appears to have been made to call any witness to corroborate assertions relating to the legitimacy of their operation and their claim that there was a genuine hire arrangement with a hire company.
“It is manifest that this operator has had a significant competitive advantage as a result of the lack of systems; he is probably assisted by his always dealing in cash in a manner that appears to be untraceable.”