Tribunal reverses IC's ban decision
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• The former director of a disgraced transport firm has won his appeal against a seven-year ban from holding an 0-licence after the Transport Tribunal overturned Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell's decision.
Kevin Malone, former director of Bootle-based Transfreight Services, persuaded the Tribunal that the North Western TC had been wrong to ban him. It directed that the case be reconsidered, preferably by DTC Mark Hinchliffe.
Transfreight had been formed to take over the work of AJ Long Transport after its licence was revoked and MD Anthony Long was jailed for fuel smuggling.
Last year the TC revoked Transfreight's 0-licence and dis qualified it from holding one indefinitely for tachograph and speed limiter offences.
Transfreight's licence was granted by Hinchliffe after Malone promised that Long would not be employed by the company or act as a director.
Bell considered that Malone had failed to abide by the spirit of the undertaking by relying on Long's wife Kathleen for the dayto-day running of the business. She doubted that the licence would have been granted had this been known; describing Malone as 'totally culpable" for Transfreight (CA41-7 March 201 Malone's evidence was he by Bell in private and she fah( refer to the most significant p of that in her fndings. 1 Tribunal found that with expressly rejecting his expla tion, there was no way her o elusions could stand at this sta The undertaking given to DTC related to Long and not to wife; it was specifically wordec enable him to remain as unpaid consultant, it added.
It was hard to justify the o elusion that Malone had breadt the spirit of the undertaking.