TC rejects Liquid Logistics O-licence application
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TC refuses haulier’s licence application over fears it is a way for bankrupt Nick Wheller to continue trading
roger.brown@rbi.co.uk TRAFFIC COMMISSIONER (TC) Sarah Bell has rejected an O-licence application from Bridgwater, Somerset haulier Liquid Logistics, expressing concern that the irm was a device for its major shareholder Nick Wheller – who was declared bankrupt last November – to continue trading.
At a public inquiry (PI) held in Bournemouth, the Western Area TC rejected the application from the irm – with its director listed as David Williams – for ive vehicles and the same number of trailers, and also held that Wheller had lost his repute.
She also revoked the O-licence of Nick Wheller Transport, which she said had operated illegally after she had suspended its licence for two vehicles and the same number of trailers in April 2010 following its liquidation.
Mike Farmer, retired Road Haulage Association regional director for the Western and Midlands area, attended the hearing to lodge a formal RHA objection to the Liquid Logistics application. He said: “We received intelligence from our members that the Nick Wheller Transport vehicles have continued to operate since the suspension of the licence.
“We do not believe he [Wheller] is of good repute and think he is not a it and proper person to run a transport company.” Amy Comer, VOSA trafic examiner, told the PI that in September last year, during a roadside check, oficers had stopped a vehicle speciied on the Nick Wheller Transport licence, carrying rapeseed oil. They found that the licence disc was not Wheller’s and that there were shortcomings relating to tachograph records.
Amanda Rayner, transport consultant, also told the hearing she had visited the irm’s premises in Bridgwater in October 2010, and found its records to be in a “complete mess” .
She added: “There were tacho charts and paperwork missing, no drivers’ handbook, and no evidence of Working Time Directive hours kept.” Bell said she was concerned Liquid Logistics could have been a ‘front’ irm for Wheller.
“Mr Wheller has shown a reckless disregard for the O-licensing system,” she said. “Any future application from him will receive very close scrutiny.”