Director keeps his repute
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12 • Doubts about
the repute of a director of the associated companies Ashton & Manchester Waste Executive and Buymoor Haulage, led to their appearance at a Manchester public inquiry before North Western LA Martin Albu.
Ashton & Manchester Waste, of Ashton-under-Lyne, was seeking to add six vehicles and two trailers to its existing threevehicle licence. Manchesterbased Buymoor Haulage was hoping for a new licence for 10 vehicles and two trailers Director John Loftus said it had operated a waste transfer station in Manchester. Planning permission was refused and the firm was given a length of time to close down and get out. It did not move out on time and was prosecuted and convicted of breaching planning requirements. It would be opening a new waste transfer station in Ashton soon.
Loftus said he had been a director of Manchester Construction. When the recession started
to bite in 1990, the company was not being paid by the construction companies. The directors decided to lay off all the staff and pay the bills and leave the company dormant. There were sufficient assets to pay all the debts and when it went into liquidation it did not owe any money. Then one or two claims were made a long time after the company was closed and the assets distributed, and there were no funds to pay those late claims.
Asked about a vehicle said to be operated by Buymoor while displaying a Manchester Construction 0-licence disc, Loftus said the vehicle was operated by MD Transport, the predecessor to Buymoor, when he was not connected with the firm and he had not been involved with the use of that vehicle.
Asked about another vehicle said to have been operated by Ashton & Manchester Waste while displaying a Manchester Construction licence disc, Loftus said that vehicle had never been owned or operated by Ashton 8z, Manchester Waste.
After Albu had said the driver had claimed the vehicle was operated by Ashton & Manchester Waste, Loftus maintained that the driver had never been employed by the company.
Financial evidence was heard in private.
For the two companies, John Backhouse said those who were responsible for operating the vehicles carried the blame for displaying incorrect 0-licence discs.
Granting both applications, Albu said Loftus had a great many business interests and his attention to the paperwork regarding his operator licences had not been given a sufficient priority. He was at fault for not returning the discs when the previous company went into liquidation. However, he did not find that Loftus had lost his repute.