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Sack the boss within a week or you'll lose your licence
Page 33
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TC instructs a director to let her
husband run the company after it is caught trading on an invalid licence.
THE BOSS OF a West Midlands firm that traded for seven months without a valid licence must be sacked if the company wants to continue.
Mandy Rutter, sole director and transport manager of Halesowen-based K&M, lost her repute after West Midland Traffic Commissioner David Dixon heard her company had traded for seven months from August 2(X)4 on a liquidated company's licence.
The invalid licence was in the name of her husband's former company,Trunkbond. which had been wound up for non-payment of VAT K&M now holds a valid licence for five vehicles and five trailers, granted in March 2005.
Issue of repute
Ihe TC said the issue was the repute of K&M and its sole director and transport manager Mandy Rutter in view of the winding up of Trunkbond and the failure to declare that in the K&M licence application form. Ile gave the company a week to replace her as director with her husband, and until June to nominate a new CPC holder.
Mandy Rutter's husband Kevin said he had put Trunkbond into liquidation because of a Customs investigation. All of the paperwork was with his accountant.
The TC adjourned the hearing for a week so Rutter's accountant could attend.
On resumption, theTC said Mandy Rutter had written to say that she was nominally the transport manager hut that her husband was now running the business.
Andrew Hingley-Smith, Rutter's accountant, said that in November 2002 Customs had launched a 16-month investigation into Trunkbond, initially believing Kevin Rutter to be involved in a huge red diesel scandal. The evasion of duty was assessed at up to £180,000 but a revised figure of f8,700 was accepted. It was a commercial decision because over £10,000 had already been spent in legal expenses.
Rutter still did not accept that he had used red diesel but Hingley-Smith advised him to form another company to protect his livelihood. Customs petitioned for the winding up of Trunk bond for unpaid VAT assessed at £33,000, though Hingley-Smith believed the true debt was £4,000. He agreed that K&M had operated vehicles for seven months since the beginning of August 2004 without an 0-licence.
Deciding not to revoke K&M's licence, the TC took account of the fact that there had been no problems since the K&M licence was granted last March and that there were no significant road safety issues st