IC aims to be 'firm but fair'
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• Last week Beverley Bell told a public inquiry that the North-West needs clearing up and that she is the woman to do it (see legal news, page 16). While this is not the sort of vocabulary we have to CUTE to associate with most Traffic Commissioners, there is no doubting that Bell means business.
Two weeks ago she revoked the licence of Bootle-based Transfreight Services, warned that she will ban its directors and told them there is no place for them in the North-West or any other Traffic Area.
So would it be fair to say she has declared war on the area's unscrupulous operators?
"There's no doubt that we do have a problem in the NorthWest as our prohibition rates are significantly higher than in other parts of the country," she says. "Certainly I've made no secret of the fact that I've got no time for operators who deliberately flout the rules, but I also see the TC's role as one of supporting and helping operators. I want to keep hauliers within the system, and revoking licences is definitely the last resort."
Big issues So what does Bell see as the big issues? Interestingly, she has already signalled her intention to come down very hard on hauliers who deliberately allow or even force their drivers to break the hours' rules.
"In the past, I think there was a preoccupation with maintenance and while that's important and will remain so, adherence to the driving hours rules has become a huge issue," she says. "Police officers have told me that an exhausted driver is just as dangerous as a drunken driver and everyone knows the penalties drunk drivers face in this country. In some ways continuing to drive while overtired is worse than driving after drinking—the defence that the drink weakened their resolve isn't available."
Phoenix problem
Phoenix companies are also a preoccupation. "Everyone I talk to, from VI staff to the trade associations, raises the phoenix problem," she adds. "Where it's clear that an operator's actions fly in the face of the spirit of the 0-licensing regulations, I will take a took at their repute."
Bell likens her role to that of a headmistress overseeing the industry and, as she puts it, "making sure they live up to the promises they've made".
If her name sounds familiar to operators outside the NorthWest, it may be because she used to prosecute for the Vehicle Inspectorate in the West Midlands. A career lawyer who also has two children, Bell set up her own legal practice and sprit her time between the VI contract and conducting defences to criminal prosecutions.
Jaundiced view
So has her VI work given her a somewhat jaundiced view of hauliers?
"No, in fact it's quite the opposite. I probably have a better understanding of the industry than most and am aware of the market conditions that operators are working within," she says. "It also means I know the difference between a driver going over his hours by 20 minutes so he can get home for the evening and another who repeatedly flouts the rules to gain a commercial advantage."
In future Bell says she may soften her approach. And she is keen to reassure hauliers now thinking of moving out of the North-West.
"I want to be known as being firm but fair," she says. "Although several of my first public inquiries have grabbed the headlines, you have to consider that I have covered lots of others where no action has been taken."
Bell adds that the strength of the public inquiry system is that every case is heard on its merits and all hau4ers will receive a hearing, whether they have hired expensive lawyers or not.