DTC mulls Select’s ‘overall repute’
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SELECT International Transport – sister firm of collapsed haulier BH Freight – is awaiting the outcome of its O-licence variation application after a Deputy Traffic Commissioner (DTC) said he needed time to consider matters of “overall repute” at the business.
At a public inquiry in Bristol last week, Western Traffic Area DTC Tim Hayden said he would issue a written decision on the application from Select, of Moreton Valence, Gloucester, for one extra vehicle and trailer – which would take its authorisation up to 10 vehicles and 14 trailers.
The inquiry was told how on 6 May 2010, at another public inquiry, BH Freight director Ronald Hogben had been successful in his new O-licence application for Select. Hogben told last year’s inquiry he needed the new licence for Select’s Pallet-Track network business and added that BH Freight was “still a profitable and successful business”.
Later that month, some BH Freight assets and the company name were sold to Select in a prepack deal.
At Friday’s hearing, the DTC said he was concerned Hogben had known about the precarious position BH Freight was in when he applied for the licence for Select last year.
Hogben replied that even on 6 May 2010 he still believed he could turn around the fortunes of BH.
Hogben said BH Freight’s problems had stemmed from the loss of its contract with Lafarge in March 2009, which had accounted for 70% of its business.