Haulier granted licence despite past offences
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Able Skips secured an 0-licence despite its director having committed 126 drivers' hours offences
ugti .Li.Fownfarbi.co.uk NEW BUSINESS Able Skips has secured an 0-licence despite its director having committed 126 drivers' hours and tachograph infringements when running his previous firm, Cargo Carriers Transport.
At a public inquiry last week in Eastbourne, South Eastern and Metropolitan Traffic Commissioner (TC) Philip Brown (right) granted the Londonbased skip hire business — whose director Rufus Mauluka held a similar role at Cargo Carriers — authorisation for two vehicles, saying he was satisfied that the proper systems and procedures now in place at the new company would ensure it would be run in a compliant manner.
Cargo Carriers had its 0-licence revoked in May this year by Deputy TC Miles Dorrington, and Mauluka subsequently lost an appeal to the Upper Tribunal to win it back. In June 2009, a Cargo Carriers vehicle being driven by Mauluka was stopped by VOSA traffic examiner Huntley for a roadside check.
The examiner's analysis of 52 tachograph charts for the period between 3 April and 15 June 2009 revealed 126 drivers' hours and tacho infringements These included: • 40 offences of driving in excess of 4.5 hours without taking a qualifying break; • 51 offences of failing to enter the correct centre field details, including overwriting into traces; • six offences of exceeding 90 hours accumulated driving time in a fortnight; • 11 offences of failing to use the mode switch; • four offences of failing to take a weekly rest; • four offences of driving in excess of 10 hours; • four offences of driving in excess of nine hours: • one offence of driving in excess of 56 hours weekly driving time; • and five offences of using a tachograph chart for longer than 24 hours Mauluka had also been driving the three vehicles he was then authorised for without the required Category C driving licence for two years In November 2009, Mauluka was convicted at Hillingdon Magistrates' Court of eight counts of drivers' hours infringements and one count of driving without a Category C driving licence, fined £1,000 and his licence endorsed with six penalty points Mauluka told the TC the infringements occurred because he had failed to plan for an unexpected summer boom in skip hire work, and had simply failed to renew his Category C licence rather than driven without ever having held one.