Disqualified haulier refused new licence
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
MillA County Durham
, haulier, who was *--: . disqualified from holding a licence for three months last August, and who is currently an undischarged bankrupt, has failed in her bid for a fresh licence at a Leeds public inquiry.
Dorothy Bowman, of Newton kcliffe, had applied for a new international licence authorising the operation of two vehicles and three trailers.
North Eastern Deputy Traffic Commissioner Brian Horner said that Bowman had attended three previous public inquiries because of maintenance related matters and a number of convictions relating to vehicle excise duty and tachograph offences, ultimately leading to the revocation of her previous licence.
In reply to the Deputy Commissioner, Mrs Bowman said that she was seeking another licence as her husband had had a heart attack last October. He was no longer capable of taking an artic down the road and they needed to earn a living.
They had worked for Bell Line, which had gone out of business owing them £16,000. Another customer, who had promised to pay the vehicle excise duty on their vehicles, had failed to do so. In addition, they had a vehicle stolen. A fuel card in the cab was taken and the thieves got away with 1.3,500.
She subsequently received a bill from Shell UK for nearly £16,000 worth of diesel. The Shell cards had been their fall back abroad and she had not realised they had gone because they had been hidden in the cab. As a result, she was made bankrupt.
Agreeing that she would not be discharged until next July, Bowman said that she was allowed to operate a business if she went to the Official Receiver and as long as she operated in her own name.
She was not allowed to obtain any credit. She had £5,000 available to run the business.
She owned a tractor unit which required testing and she could hire a tractive unit for £600.
Accepting that in the past her drivers had had problems over tachographs, Mrs Bowman said that her drivers would be warned that they would be dismissed if there were any such problems.
The Deputy Commissioner commented that Mrs Bowman had had a very unsatisfactory history to date, with 14 prohibition notices having been issued to her vehicles and trailers over the last five years.
After Bowman had said that there had never been a major prohibition notice imposed on her vehicles, the Deputy TC pointed out that there had been 13 immediate prohibitions, two of which had been endorsed as showing a significant maintenance failure. There were also several cases where prohibitions had been varied when vehicles were produced for clearance.
In refusing to grant the licence, the Deputy Commissioner said that he had considered the application very carefully but he had to take account of the past history. He had concluded that there was insufficient finance and he did not feel that he would be doing Bowman any particular kindness by granting her a licence.