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Page 8
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An operator and his representative, both "monumentally unhelpful",
have got short shrift from the DTC this week Mike Jewell reports.
TWO FIGURES AT the centre of a feud with the North Eastern Traffic Area have been dealt significant blows by the licensing authorities.
Operator John McCaffrey, under fire for running trucks on paraffin, has lost his bid for a fresh 0-licence after Deputy Traffic Commissioner Mark Hinchliffe decided he was not fit to hold one.
And transport consultant Gerald Hamilton. who has repeatedly questioned the TCs' authority and judgments, has been banned, along with everyone else from his company, UBS Transport Consultants, from appearing before Hinchliffe again.
In the face of evidence described as "overwhelming", the DTC niled that three of the vehicles specified on the 0-licence of Montana Freight Services had been running with paraffin in their tanks. Hinchliffe said it was inconceivable that all the field and labora tory results could be wrong. He found it easier to conclude that the samples analysed independently following an inspection in 2003 were unreliable.
Whatever the source of the paraffin, in view of the number of positive findings made in different locations by different people doing different tests, he accepted that significant quantities of paraffin had been mixed with the diesel in the tanks of the Montana vehicles. He noted that McCaffrey had declined to offer any apology or reassurance for the future.
The DTC hit out at McCaffrey and Hamilton's approach to the case, saying no effort had been made to explain the presence of the paraffin, still less to excuse it.
He added that their attitude had been one of endless challenge and denial in the face of what was manifestly overwhelming evidence.
In the two years since the fuel samples were taken the company's 0-licence had continued without any regulatory action being effective, and no admission, explanation, apology or re-assurance had been given to mitigate the situation.
The approach of McCaffrey, or at least the approach of his representatives, had been monumentally unhelpful, he concluded, with all the appearance of deliberate obfuscation.
Birtley, Co Durham-based McCaffrey was seeking a new national licence for 18 vehicles and six trailers.