IC condemns unlicensed subcontracts
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A Staffordshire haulier who hired vehicles and subcontracted work to an apparently unlicensed operator has had his licence suspended for three weeks.
Rugeley-based Brian Keown, who was seeking to increase his licence from two to five vehicles, had been called before West Midland Traffic Commissioner David Dixon. Keown's licence was granted at a public inquiry in January 1998, and he was given a formal warning over his maintenance record at disciplinary proceedings in December 1998.
Keown admitted operating more vehicles than he was authorised to, saying he had assumed that an application for interim authority for the additional vehicles would be granted.
The IC quizzed Keown about a deal in which he had hired two vehicles and subcontracted work to a man called Chris Williams, who did not seem to hold a licence. Keown said that Williams had told him in May that he had an 0-licence granted but had not got the licence discs because the financial situation had not been sorted out.
The IC commented that this was nonsense.
After Keown had agreed that he had not asked to see Williams' licence, the TC said that it seemed to him that Keown had knowingly subcontracted work to an unlicensed operator.
Keown said he was not quite sure what the law was in relation to hired vehicles. He agreed that he was still subcontracting to Williams, saying that Williams had now told him that he had had a licence granted the previous week. Keown conceded that his own vehicles had been operated without displaying licence discs.
For Keown, James Backhouse said he was a former driver who was learning by trial and error and trying not to lose work while doing it. A penalty of £250 imposed by Customs for the use of red diesel had been paid in full.
Indicating that he would grant interim authority for a third vehicle at the end of the suspension period, the TO said that Keown had come within a whisker of losing his repute. He warned that unless Keown got things right from now on, his future as a haulier was likely to be a short one.