Firm loses licence over fuel offences
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• by Michael Jewell A haulier has been disqualified from holding an Operator's Licence for showing a "contemptible disregard for the law".
Gary Barham, director of Mendlesham, Suffolk-based Power Favour and his company, which traded as Scorpion Freight, were banned indefinitely from holding an 0-licence by Eastern Traffic Commissioner Geoffrey Simms.
Scorpion Freight's licence for nine vehicles and nine trailers was revoked and transport manager Timothy Moore was held to have lost his good repute.
Customs officer Rodney Bragg said that two Power Favour vehicles checked at Felixstowe Docks were found to contain paraffin in their fuel tanks; a third vehicle had red diesel in its tank.
A check on the company's bulk tank showed that it contained 29% paraffin. Two vehicles were seized and Gareth Benham. the owner of Mendlesham Group Haulage, who is believed to be Gary Banham's father, paid restoration penalties totalling 26,505.
Bragg was told that the vehicles were registered to Mendlesham Group Haulage and were on long-term lease to Power Favour.
Traffic examiner Richard Mutimer said that after a Power Favour vehicle had been seen speeding on the M6 at Penkridge, the company was asked to produce six months' tachograph charts for all its vehicles. Benham had phoned to say he was unable to produce them as they had been accidentally shipped abroad in a container in which they had been stored.
Evidence about the use of defective vehicles was given by the Vehicle Inspectorate and Suffolk Police.
The TC said the company had failed to notify a conviction against Gary Benham for assault on an environmental health officer, for which he was ordered to do 60 hours' community service. "The company is personified by Gary Banham, who has a contemptible disregard for the law in relation to the operation of goods vehicles," Simms concluded. "He has failed totally to co-operate with the enforcement authorities."