REPUTE GAINED BY TIME
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ccording to legend whenever the late, unlamented Hermann Goering heard the word "culture" he reached for his gun. Whenever CM hears the words "good repute" we start to twitch. What constitutes good repute is laid down unequivocally in the 0Licensing regulations of 1990: "A licensing Authority shall determine that an individual is not of good repute if he has: a) been convicted of serious offences; or b) been repeatedly convicted of road traffic offences." It defines a "serious" offence as one for which: a prison sentence of more than three months; a fine exceeding level 4 on the standard scale ; or a community service order for more than 60 hours is imposed. On the face of it Peter Housby and David Brown, directors of Bulmans Bulk haulage and Bulmans (Penrith), were short of good repute. Both had been jailed for 1 2 months and fined £2,750 in 1993 after pleading guilty to aiding, abetting, counselling and procuring drivers to falsify tacho records. Neither served the full term. But those facts didn't stop North Western LA Martin Albu from granting them another 0-Licence despite objections from the RHA and Cumbria Police.
he Transport Tribunal has put a stop to all this by overturning Albu's decision and delivering him a stinging rebuke. Judge Harold Wilson's declaration that: "No reasonable LA could conceivably have come to the conclusion that sufficient time had elapsed for the convictions to be disregarded" has no doubt sent a mini-shock wave through all the LAs' offices. It's not the first time Albu has taken a controversial decision regarding good repute. But rather than dwell on the past, Commercial Motor prefers to offer some practical advice to the Department of Transport on how to avoid this kind of time-wasting (and clearly expensive) situation. The definition of good repute is in black and white in the 0-Licensing regs. What they don't say is whether you can ever get it back once you've lost it—and how long that would take. 1905-1995
ROVERSARY
If LAs want to forgive and forget then they should apply the some rules that exist under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which says that seven years must pass before a jail sentence of not more than six months is "spent', and 10 years for one not exceeding 30 months By all means give a man a chance to regain his good repute—but not before time.