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No licence after illegal use

12th October 2000
Page 18
Page 18, 12th October 2000 — No licence after illegal use
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Woods Road Transport, based in Rainham, has failed in its application for a licence because of its illegal use of vehicles.

The bid was refused by the South Eastern & Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner Christopher Heaps on the grounds that the company had been operating its vehicles without a licence.

Woods Road Transport had applied for a licence authorising five vehicles and five trailers. A request for interim authority to begin operation had been refused, In response to the illegal use allegations, Cohn Ward, for the company, admitted that one lorry had been reported to the Eastern TC for speeding.

David Steadman, husband of the sole director Margaret Steadman, said he had been associated with George Woods, who had traded without an 0licence as Woods Road Transport. Steadman became aware only in December that an 0-licence was necessary for a haulage firm. At the beginning of February the firm purchased Woods transport business.

That month Woods Road Transport submitted a licence application in the name of Stephen Gravell of Woods Transport, and also a plea signed by Steadman for interim authority. The application was withdrawn and re-submitted in March, with Gravell as transport manager. In August Steadman admitted to a traffic examiner that the company was operating without a licence.

Steadman said some vehicles had since been taken off the road. One, kept by a driver who lived and worked in Felixstowe, was still being used. Steadman could not comment on the speeding incident, as he rarely saw the driver and had not seen any tachograph charts. He was unaware that there was a duty to obtain charts within 21 days. He said his wife was not involved in the management of the company in any way Ward argued that the company's failures had been due to ignorance.

Refusing the application, the TC said: -I find that the de facto operator is not the company but Mr Steadman, who is not a director or the transport man ager of the company. I do not know if he is a shareholder of the company. In the full knowledge of the need for an Operator's Licence, Mr Steadman has caused the company knowingly to operate illegally since February 2000, and even after receiving written advice in my office's letter dated 7 June and further advice from the Vehicle Inspectorate 001 August."

The TC will now consider how far Gravell was or should have been aware of the illegal activities, and whether he must attend a public inquiry to consider his repute.


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