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'Close call' licence bid succeeds IC acknowledges Traffic Area Office mistake

17th June 2004, Page 29
17th June 2004
Page 29
Page 29, 17th June 2004 — 'Close call' licence bid succeeds IC acknowledges Traffic Area Office mistake
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

and grants new licence. Mike Jewell reports.

DESPITE OPERATING without an 0licence for several months, a haulier has narrowly succeeded in its bid for a new licence to run an operation that had been in receivership since last year.

The application succeeded because West Midlands Traffic Commissioner David Dixon was satisfied there had been no deliberate attempt to break the law. However, he said the offence had been a "very close call" and but for the particular circumstances he would have decided the company had lost its repute. At fault

He also accepted that the Traffic Area Office had been at fault in the way it processed an interim application by Hargreaves Bulk Liquid Transport of Bloxwich to run 73 vehicles and 108 trailers formerly belonging to S Jones Transport. For the company, Jonathan Backhouse conceded that the S Jones business, which was in

administrative receivership, had been sold by the administrator to Hargreaves last October and that Hargreaves had operated without an 0-licence since that date.

Hargeaves chief executive David Vickery, the previous chairman and managing director of S Jones, said the company had gone into administration after a co-director had entered into a disastrous contract.

He agreed that S Jones was said to have liabilities of £3m and that creditors were likely to get only 10p in the pound. He added that Hargreaves Bulk liquid was a joint venture, with 50% of the shares held by Durham-based Hargreaves UK Plc, 25% by himself and 25% by his son Gareth, the managing director.

Transport manager Richard Bevan said when the administrator was appointed he rang the Traffic Area Office for advice. He was told that the business could continue operating for 12 months under the S Jones licence if it filled in the requisite Regulation 31 forms which allow a liquidated business to trade on its old licence for the interim. The forms were filled in and returned. He did not recall being told that the continuation would be subject to the TC's decision. He had been under the impression that once the forms were filled in it could continue to operate. Overlooked

Once Hargreaves Bulk Liquid was formed, Hargreaves UK took over the application for a new 0-licence. However, it turned out that the executive in that organisation tasked with making the application never did so.

David Vickery said when the company discovered the position in April it immediately applied for a licence. It had continued to operate as it thought that it was still covered by the S Jones licence. When in May it found that no Regulation 31

authority had been granted, it transferred the vehicles to licences held by two other companies in the Hargreaves Group — Youngs Transport and Squires Distribution Services.

Gareth Vickery said the company had felt it had taken steps to ensure it was operating legally. It had been led to believe that a "comfort letter" had been received, allowing it to continue to operate as S Jones.

In granting the licence, the TC said the directors had failed to take sufficient steps to ensure that they had authority to operate. They never asked to see documentary evidence.

However, he took account of the fact that the Regulation 31 application was not properly dealt with in the Traffic Area Office and that repeated reminders that the S Jones licence was coming to an end at the end of May might have misled the company into believing it had Regulation 31 authority.

DON'T BE SHY-ASK!

Are you planning a legal event, seminar or conference which operators could attend to learn about the latest developments in road transport law? If so, send us the details and we'll list them in a new diary section of upcoming events.

And CM's legal section still welcomes your questions, which will be answered in print by top transport lawyers (see pg 35). Write to Patric Cunnane, Legal Editor, Commercial Motor, Quadrant House, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS; phone 020 8652 3678; or e-mail patric.cunnane@rbi.co.uk


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