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Firm with "downright evasive" diredor fails in licence bid
Page 37
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A REMOVALS FIRM has been refused an 0-licence after a Traffic Commissioner branded its director "downright evasive" and said his answers were "calculated to evade the truth".
Morecambe-based FOM Removals, whose sole director and shareholder is Christopher Needham, had earlier appeared before North-Western TC Beverley Bell to seek a licence for three vehicles and one trailer (CM 27 July). Needham had been disqualified from holding or obtaining an 0-licence for five years in January 2001. He is currently banned from being a company director, and admitted that he operated illegally until December 2005.
David Longton. a partner in chartered accountancy firm Melville & Co. had told the TC that the company had moved from haulage into storage and small removals. As a result, the company was now trading profitably.
Recent proceedings at Lancaster County Court gave Needham special leave to act as a director, as long as his conduct and the corn pany's financial affairs were supervised by Longton. Longton was unaware that the company had been operating illegally, but he was confident that it would continue to trade profitably Needham said that, when faced with unfair competition, you had to "bend the law; you just did not close down".
In her written decision, the TC said she took account of previous illegal activities despite the order for disqualification and the continued culture of noncompliance, as evidenced by Needham's comment about "bending" the law. Needham was "downright evasive" and questioned her authority when asked to answer questions on income from the business. His answers, Bell said. were calculated to "evade the truth".
She had concluded that the financial documents that were submitted to Lancaster County Court were based on incorrect and misleading information, and that Needham had not changed his ways.